IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


V 


/. 


A 


V. 


1.0 


I.I 


11.25 


Ifrii^  IIM 
^  IIM 


150 

S  1^  IIIIIM 


1.8 


U    IIIIII.6 


Va 


^ 


/} 


0% 


v: 


i9^ 


o 


7 


/A 


PhotogRiphic 
Sciences 
Corporation 


C 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


^ 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normaie  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

□    Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagde 

□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pelliculde 

□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

□    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur  " 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur6es  et/ou  pelliculdes 


~^    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
!:_]    Pages  d^colordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 


I      I    Pages  detached/ 


0 


Pages  d^tach^es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  indgale  de  {'impression 


D 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 


□    Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 


D 


D 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
11  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout6es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  iti  filmdes. 


D 
D 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmdes  it  nouveau  de  fa9on  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


D 


Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires; 


This  item  is  filnied  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


y 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmad  hare  hat  baan  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of - 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


L'axamplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grAca  A  la 
gin^rositi  da: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


Tha  imagat  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  batt  quality 
poasibla  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  m  kavping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacifications. 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  AtA  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  l'axamplaira  film6,  it  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustrated  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  page  with  a  printad 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplairas  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  filmAs  an  commenpant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  selon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  paga  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  ara  filmad 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmis  A  des  taux  de  rMuction  different*. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  filmi  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  an  bas,  an  prenant  la  nombre 
d'imagas  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  mAthode. 


t 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

lU)j> 


.7-V 


t 


6' 2  1 


THE    FIEST    LANDING    ON   WEANGEL    ISLAND, 


WITH  SOME 

REMARKS  ON  THE  NORTHERN  INHABITANTS. 

BY 

IRVING  C.  R08SE,  M.I). 

On  May  4,  1881,  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Chief  of 
Revenue  Marine,  Mr.  E.  W.  Clark,  I  was  allowed  to  take 
passage  from  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  on  board  the  United 
States  Revenue  steamer  Corwin,  whose  destination  was 
Alaska  and  the  northv.est  Arctic  ocean.  The  object  of 
the  cruise  was,  in  addition  to  revenue  duty,  to  ascer- 
tain the  fate  of  two  missing  whalers  and,  if  possible,  to 
communicate  with  the  Arctic  exploring  yacht  Jean- 
nette. 

Our  well-found  craft  made  good  headway  for  seven  or 
eight  uneventful  days  of  exceptionally  fine  weather, 
while  the  ocean,  somewhat  deserving  the  adjective  that 
designates  it,  displayed  its  prettiest  combinations  of  blue 
tints  and  sunset  effects  as  we  steamed  through  miles  of 
medusidse ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  sight  of  occa- 
sional whales  and  the  strange  marine  birds  that  character- 
ize a  higher  latitude,  we  should  scarcely  have  known  of 
our  approach  to  the  north.  Soon,  however,  we  were  beset 
by  pelting  hail  and  furious  storms  of  snow  and  all  the  dis- 
comforts of  sea  life,  causing  apenlhU  navigation  in  every 
sense  of  the  term.  On  May  15  we  were  somewhat  dis- 
oriented while  trying  to  make  a  landfall  in  a  blinding 
snowstorm,   and  groped  about  for  several  hours  before 


164      First  Landing  on  Wrmu/el  Island,  with  some 


anchoring  under  one  of  the  Alp-like  cliffs  of  the  Aleutinn 

islands. 

•.*  -X-  *  *  *  * 

Without  going  into  further  details  of  the  ci'uise,  I  will 
state  that  on  the  previous  year  live  unsuccessful  attempts 
were  made  by  the  Corioin  to  reach  Herald  island,  and  that 
AVrangel  island  was  approached  to  within  about  twenty 
miles.  This  "  problenuitical  northern  land,"  the  existence 
of  which  the  Russian  Admiral  AVrangel  reported  from 
accounts  of  Siberian  natives,  and  which  he  tried  unsuc- 
cessfully to  find ;  a  land  that  Captain  Kellett,  of  Her 
Britannic  Majesty's  ship  Herald,  in  1849,  thought  he  saw, 
but  which,  under  more  favorable  circumstances  of  weather 
and  position,  was  not  seen  by  the  l^nitel  States  ship 
Vinoenncs ;  a  land,  in  fact,  that  from  the  foregoing 
statements  and  from  the  imperfect  accounts  of  whale- 
men we  liad  begun  to  regard  as  a  myth,  was  actually 
seen  ;  and  T  shall  never  forget  the  tinge  of  regret  I  felt 
when  the  necessity  of  the  position  obliged  the  withdrawal 
of  the  ship  and  I  took  a  last  lingering  look  at  the  ice- 
bound and  unexplored  coast,  fully  realizing  at  the  time 
the  joyous  satisfaction  that  must  animate  the  discoverer 
and  explorer  of  an  unknown  land. 

However,  better  luck  was  in  store;  for  Captain  Kellett' s 
discovery  was  afterwards  completed  by  the  Corioin.  I 
now  purpose  to  narrate  a  few  circumstances  attending  this 
first  landing  on  Wrangel  island,  which  may  be  best  told  by 
further  reference  to  Herald  island.  Captain  Kellett,  the 
only  person  known  to  have  landed  at  the  latter  place 
previously  to  this  account,  reports  that  the  extent  he  had 
to  walk  over  was  not  more  than  thirty  feet,  from  which 
space  he  scrambled  up  a  short  distance  ;  that  with  the  time 


I 


l)ei 

of 

wif 

a  IK 

jun 


1 


Jiemarkfi  on  the  Northi-rn  Inhabitants. 


165 


tinn 


will 
npts 
that 
enty 
tence 
from 
.iis\ic- 
ller 
?  saw, 
?atlier 
J  sliip 
e^oing 
wlvale- 
ctually 
t  I  felt 
idrawal 
he  ice- 
he  time 
,coverer 

tCelletfs 

loin.     I 

iiuf?  this 

told  by 

llett,  the 

[er  place 

Lt  he  had 

)Ti\  which 

the  time 


t 


he  could  spare  and  liis  materials  *'  the  island  was  perfectly 
inaccessible."  He  exi)resses  gi'eat  disappointment,  as  from 
its  summit  much  could  have  been  seen,  and  all  doubts  set 
aside  reijarding  tlie  land  he  su])posed  he  saw  to  westward. 
An  extract  fi-om  one  of  Captain  De  Long's  letters,  making 
known  his  intention  to  retreat  upon  the  Siberian  settle- 
ments in  the  event  of  disaster  to  the  .h'annetti\  says,  in  re- 
ference to  a  ship's  being  sent  to  obtain  intelligence  of  him : 
'*  If  the  ship  comes  up  merely  foi-  tidings  of  us  let  her  look 
for  them  on  the  east  side  of  Kellett  land  and  on  Herald 
island."  Being  in  a  measure  guided  by  this  information, 
the  Corwin  made  the  forementioned  places  objective  points 
in  the  search.  It  was  not,  however,  till  after  the  coal 
bunkers  were  rej^lenished  with  bituminous  coal  from  a  seam 
in  the  cliff  above  Cape  Lisburne,  that  an  effort  was  made  to 
reach  the  ishmd.  During  the  run  westward — a  distance  of 
245  miles — the  tine  weather  enabled  us  to  witness  some 
curious  freaks  of  refraction  and  other  odd  phenomena  for 
which  the  high  latitudes  are  so  remarkable.  On  July  30, 
the  tine  weather  continuing,  everybody  was  correspondingly 
elate  and  merry  when  both  Herald  and  Wrangel  islands 
were  sighted  from  the  "  cro'  -nest "  and,  as  they  were  neared, 
apparf^nth^  free  from  ice.  This  illusion,  however,  was  soon 
dispelled.  On  approaching  the  land  strong  tide  rips  were 
encountered,  and  finally  the  ice,  the  di-ift  of  which  was 
shown  by  the  drop  of  a  lead-line  to  be  west-noi'thwest. 
We  steamed  through  about  fifteen  ndles  of  this  ice  before 
being  stopped,  less  than  half  a  mile  from  the  southeast  end 
of  the  island  by  the  fixed  ice,  to  which  the  ship  was  secured 
with  a  kedge.  We  got  off,  and  after  considerable  climbing 
and  scrambling  up  and  down  immense  hummocks,  and 
juni]nng  a  number  of  crevices,  finally  set  foot  on  the  land 

163321 


KiG      First  LaiidiiKj  on  Wr<infi<'l  I.slaiKh  iciUi  .sonu- 


we  had  been  so  long  trying  to  ivach,  Oui-  advent  created 
a  great  coinmotion  among  the  niyrifids  of  birds  tliat  fre- 
quent the  ledges  and  cliffs,  and  tlie  intrusion  caused  them 
to  whirl  about  in  a  motley  cloud  and  scream  at  each  other 
in  ceaseless  u])roar.  A  few  minutes  sufficed  to  survey  the 
situation,  before  attempting  to  ascend  at  a  spot  that  seemed 
scarcely  to  afford  footing  for  a  goat.  Near  the  foot  of  the 
cliffs  were  seen  on  the  one  hand  several  detached  pinnacles 
of  sombre-looking  weathei'-worn  granite  that  had  with- 
stood the  vigor  of  many  Arctic  winteis  :  on  the  other  hand 
a  seemingly  inaccessible  wall,  vividly  recalling  the  eastern 
face  of  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar.  This  sight,  strange  and 
weird  beyond  description,  did  not  fail  to  awaken  odd 
thoughts  and  emotions,  far  removed  as  we  were  from  all 
human  intercourse,  amid  solitiule  and  desolation,  and  for  a 
moment  the  mind  absorbed  a  dash  of  the  local  coloring. 
Selecting  what  was  believed  to  be  the  most  favorable  spot 
to  ascend  the  cliff,  two  of  our  party  in  making  the  attempt 
would  occasionally  detach  large  bowlders,  which  came 
bounding  down  like  a  bombardment. 

The  attempt  was  abandoned  after  climbing  a  few  hundred 
feet.  In  company  with  several  others,  I  tried  what  seemed 
to  be  a  more  practicable  way— a  gully  filled  with  snow — up 
Avhich  we  had  gone  scarcely  a  hundred  feet  when  it,  too, 
had  to  be  abandoned.  In  the  meantime  the  skin  boat  had 
been  brought  over  the  ice,  and  one  of  tlie  men  jDointing  out 
another  place  where  he  thought  we  might  ascend,  it  was 
the  work  of  but  a  few  minutes  to  cross  a  bit  of  open  water 
which  led  to  the  foot  of  a  steep  snowbank,  somewhat  dis- 
colored from  the  gravel  brought  down  by  melting  snow. 
Without  despairing,  and  being  in  that  frame  of  mind  pre- 
pared to  incur  danger  to  a  reasonable  extent  for  the  sake  of 


I 


lie 


Ii( iiKirks  oil  tilt'  Xorfhorn  Tiihahiidiits. 


167 


created 
that  fre- 
3ed  them 
ich  other 
rvey  the 
it  seemed 
)ot  of  the 
pinnacles 
lad   with- 
thei'  hand 
le  eastern 
range  and 
aken   odd 
e  from  all 
.,  and  for  a 
a  coloring, 
orable  spot 
the  attempt 
hicli  came 

e\v  hundred 
hat  seemed 
h  snow— up 
hen  it,  too, 
in  boat  had 
x)inting  out 
cend,  it  was 
open  water 
mewhat  dis- 
elting  snow. 
)f  mind  pre- 
»r  the  sake  of 


knowledge,  we  climbed  several  hundred  feet  over  the  snow 
and  ice,  having  to  cut  steps  with  an  axe  that  we  had  brought 
along,  before  reaching  the  toj).  Tlie  latter  stage  of  this  pro- 
ceeding was  like  scrambling  over  the  d(mie  of  the  AVashing- 
ton  (7a])itol  with  a  great  yawning  cliff  below,  and  was  well 
calculated  to  try  the  nerve  of  any  one  except  a  competent 
mountaineer  or  a  sailor  accustomed  to  a  doddering  nuist.  A 
ravine  was  next  reached,  through  which  tumbled  with  loud 
noise  and  wild  confusion,  over  broken  rocks  and  amid  some 
scant  lichens  and  mosses,  a  stream  of  pure  water,  which  had 
hollowed  out  a  shaft  or  funnel,  forming  a  glacier  mill  or 
moulin.  It  was  over  the  roof  of  this  tunnel  that  we  had 
passed,  and  it  caused  an  awesome  feeling  to  come  over  one 
to  see  the  water  leap  down  its  mouth  to  an  unseen  dept' 
with  a  loud  rumbling  noise.  After  a  tiresome  ascent  of  the 
ravine,  this  hitherto  inaccessible  island,  like  a  standing 
challenge  of  Nature  inviting  the  muscular  and  ambitious, 
was  at  last  climbed  to  the  very  summit ;  and  it  may  be 
remarked,  with  pardonable  vanity,  that  the  feat  was  never 
done  before.  The  view  revealed  from  the  top  of  the  island 
was  a  verital)le  apocalypse.  There  w^as  something  unique 
about  the  desolate  grandeur  of  the  novel  surroundings  that 
would  cause  a  num  of  the  Sir  Charles  Coldstream  type  to 
say  there  "is  something  in  it,"  and  the  most  hackneyed 
man  of  the  world  w^ould  acknowledge  a  new  sensation.  It 
was  midnight,  and  the  sun  shone  with  gleaming  splendor 
over  all  this  waste  of  ice  and  sea  and  graaite  ;  on  one  hand 
Wrangel  Island  appeared  in  well-detined  outline,  on  the 
other  an  open  sea  extended  northward  as  far  as  we  were 
able  to  mfike  out  by  the  aid  of  strong  glasses.  From  our 
j)osition  about  the  middle  of  the  island  the  two  extreme 
points  of  Wrangel  island  bore  southwest  and  west-by-south 


108     First  Landhuf  on  Wranrfd  Island,  with  some 


respertively.  In  sliajie,  Herald  island  is  something  like  a 
boot  with  a  depression  at  the  instep,  and  at  the  western- 
most extremity,  near  which  it  may  be  ('lind)ed  with  consid- 
erable ease,  are  found  a  number  of  jagged  peaks  and  si)lin- 
tered  pinnacles  of  granite,  some  of  which  resend)le  the  giant 
remains  of  ancient  sculpture,  all  the  worse  for  exposure  to 
the  weather.  On  a  pi-onumtory  1 ,400  feet  high  at  the  north- 
east ])oint  of  the  island  I  placed  in  a  cairn  a  bottle  contain- 
ing written  infornuition  of  our  landing  and  a  copy  of  the 
New  York  Herald  of  April  23.'" 

Beyond  the  extraordinary  bird  life,  no  signs  of  life 
appeared,  except  a  small  fox,  and  a  Polar  bear.  The  latter 
put  in  an  appearance  just  after  we  had  returned  on  boartl 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  moi'uing,  and  the  circumstances 
attending  his  slaughter,  which  were  about  as  enlivening  as 
shooting  a  sheep,  put  an  end  to  this  episode  of  our  mission. 

After  great  difficulty  in  getting  out  of  the  ice  we  ran  all 
day  on  Sunday,  -luly  Bl,  along  the  edge  of  the  [)ack  with 
Wrangel  Island  in  sight,  but  were  unable  to  find  a  favor- 
able lead  that  would  take  us  neai'er  the  land  than  twelve  or 
lifteen  miles.  The  princi[)al  events  that  go  to  make  up 
the  record  of  our  cruise  for  the  next  ten  days  were  the 
finding  of  a  ship's  lower  yard  ;  the  fabulous  numbers  of 
eider  ducks  seen  off  the  Siberian  coast,  and  the  usual 
encounters  with  fogs,  bears,  and  ice. 

On  the  morning  of  August  11,  we  were  so  near  the  unex- 
l^lored  land  that  we  were  most  sanguine  about  getting 
ashore,  although  it  seemed  as  if  a  journey  would  have  first 


*In  November,  1882,  while  in  London,  I  met  Mr.  Gilder,  the  Ilerahl  corre- 
spondent, wlio  iicconipanied  the  U.  S.  sliip  Rod()frx,  and  he  showed  me  this 
record  and  paper  which  he  had  lalien  from  tlie  cairn  during  a  subsequent  visit 
to  the  island. 


some 


Hemarls  on  the  Northern  Inhahitantn. 


11 ) 


hinff  W^^  « 
he  western - 

A-itli  consit^ 
s  niul  spUn- 
ble  tlie  giant 
exposure  to 
at  thenorth- 
ittle  contain- 
copy  of  the 

dgns  of  life 
..  Tlie  hitter 
led  on  board 
ircmristances 
enlivening  as 

onr  mission. 
36  we  ran  all 
tie  pack  with 
p  lind  a  favor- 
lian  twelve  or 

to  make  up 
ays  were  the 
8  numbers  of 
nd  the  usual 

lear  the  unex- 
iliout  getting 
uld  have  iirst 

the  IleraUl  corre- 

li(!  showed  me  this 

a  subsequent  visit 


to  be  made  over  the  ice.     In  the  afternoon  the  chances  were 
so  good  that  I  volunteered  to  go  aslioi'e  on  the  ice  on  the 
morning  of  tlie  12th  in  company  with  Lieutenant  Reynolds, 
PiUgineer  Owen,  and  two  men.     Preparations  were  made 
accordingly  ;  the  skin  boat,  rations,  etc.,  being  got  ready, 
and  we  spent  a  restless  night  in  anticipating  the  events  of 
the  coming  day.     We  were  called  at  live  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  12th,  and  while  eating  a  hurried  l)reakfast 
the  ship  steamed  inshore.     We  were  fully  jM'epared  for  the 
undertaking  ;  but  finding  tlie  leads  in  the  ice  more  favorable 
than  (m  the  preceding  evening,  the  little  steamer  jammed 
and  crashed  along  in  a  hibyrinthine  course  not  without  great 
difficulty,  for  at  times  she  was  completely  beset  by  great 
masses  of  ice,  which  she  steamed  against  at  full  speed  for 
several  minutes  before  they  showed  sign  of  giving  way,  and 
it  seemed  that  all  endeavors  to  get  out  of  the  pack  would 
be  futile.     Happily,    all  these  difficulties   yielded,  and  a 
clear  way  being  seen  to  a  water  hole  just  off  the  mouth  of  a 
river,  we  anchored  in  ten  fathoms  near  some  grounded  tioe- 
bergs,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off  shore.     A  boat  was  then 
got  away,  and  on  the  calm  bright  morning  of  August  1-2, 
1881,  the  first  landing  on  Wrangel  Island  was  accomplished  ! 
On   the  beach,    composed   of    black  slaty    shingle,    we 
found  the  skeleton  of  a  whale  from  which  the  baleen  was 
absent ;  also  a  quantity  of  driftwood,  some  of  it   twelve 
inches  in  diameter  ;   a  wooden  wedge  ;  a  barrel-stave ;   a 
j)iece  of  a  boat's  spar  and  a  fragment  of  a  biscuit-box. 
The  river,  which  we  named  Clark  river,  was  about  one 
liundred  yards  vvide,    two  fathoms  deep  near  the  mouth, 
and   rapid.     From   the    top    of  a  neighboring  cliff,   four 
hundred  feet  high,  it  could  be  seen  trending  back  into  the 
mountains  some  thirty  or  thirty-live  miles.     The  moun- 


17(»      First  Laiidhiii  oil  Wraiif/rl  fslaiid,  irit/i  some 


tains,  devoid  of  snow,  were  seen  under  favorable  circum- 
stances tlirougli  a  rift  in  the  clouds,  and  appeared  brown 
and  naked,  witli  smooth  rounded  tops.  During  a  tramp  of 
some  miles  over  a  muddy  way,  composed  of  argillaceous 
clay  and  black  i)ebbles,  I  observed  fragments  of  quartz  and 
granite.  Several  specimens  containing  iron  pyrites  were 
also  founil.  The  cliifs  in  the  vicinity  of  our  landing  are 
composed  of  slate,  and  the  land  over  which  T  travelled 
seemed  almost  as  barren  as  a  macadamized  road ;  but  on 
searching  closely  several  s])ecies  of  hyperborean  plants 
were  found,  such  as  saxifrages,  anemones,  grasses,  lichens 
aud  mushrooms.  The  mosses  and  lichens  were  but  feebly 
developed,  and  the  i)haneroganious  plants  were  in  the  same 
state  of  severe  repression.  The  following  plants  were  col- 
lected ;  and  I  am  indebted  to  Professor  John  Muir  for  their 
mimes : 


Saxifrana  fltf/il/dris,  Willd. 

Htellaris,  L.  var.  roriiom,  Poir. 

dleneflora.  Sternb. 

hiemcifoUa,  Waldst.  &  Kit. 

rivuhiris,  L.  var.  hyttcilMrea,  Hook. 

hroHchiaUx,  L. 

serpi/Uifolia,  Pursh. 
Anenioiw pairijtom,  Miclix. 
Piipaivr  nudicduie,  L. 
Draba  alpiiui,  w. 
Cochleria  officinulU,  L. 
Artenmia  borealiK,  Willd. 
Xavdnnmia  friykhi.  Hook . 
Sausaurea  monticola,  liichards. 
Seiiecio  frif/idus,  Less. 
Poientilla  uiven,  L. 

friyida,  Vill.  ? 


I 


some 


HviiKd'liS  on  (lie  yorUii in  InJiohifants. 


171 


l)le  circiim- 
jiied  brown 
r  a  tiiinip  of 
ai'^illaceoiis 
f  quartz  ami 
)yrites  were 
landing  are 
I  travelled 
nad ;  but  on 
•rean   plants 
,8ses,  lichens 
[■e  but  feebly 
»  in  the  same 
[its  were  col- 
luir  for  their 


Armirid  ti«icr<ii'<ir/iii,  I'ursli. 

vulgam,  Willd. 
Sfi'lldviii  lohtjipen  Ooldie,  var.  EihrnrdMi,  T.  vt  O. 
f'erastinm  alpinnin,  L. 
OjiiiijKindvii  Slellcri,  Cham.  &  Schlecht. 
Siilur  jMlnrin,  Wahl. 
Lttzulu  ht/jii'fli'irea,  R.  Br. 
Poa  tivdiea,  R.  Br. 
Aira  C(Pt>pitoK(i,  L.  var.  Arclkn. 
Aloiwcuni.i  alpinua.  Smith. 

T  made  a  collection  of  several  spiders  and  of  some  larva*. 
The  spider,  it  appears,  is  an  "undescribed  species  of  Eri- 
</o)ii\'"  and  the  larvfP  are  prol)ably  lepidopterons.  A  .small 
shrike  was  also  secured  as  a  .specimen.  We  saw  .several 
species  of  gulls,  a  snowy  owl — which  by  the  way  was  very 
shy — a  few  lemmings,  and  the  tracks  of  foxes  and  of 
bears. 

Microscopic  examination  of  mud  obtained  from  the  bot- 
tom, in  the  vicinity  of  our  ar;  iiorago,  revealed  some  shells 
of  foraminifera.  The  density  of  the  sea  water,  and  the  dip 
of  the  magnetic  needle  were  ascertained  here,  as  well  as  at 
other  points  in  the  Arctic ;  and  as  the  observations  are 
entirely  new%  I  give  the  results  in  the  accompanying  tables. 
The  water  densities  are  from  observations  of  Mr.  ¥.  E. 
Owen,  Assistant  Engineer  of  the  Corioin. 

The  instruments  used  in  obtaining  the  results  were  a 
thermometer  and  a  hydrometer.  Water  was  drawn  at 
about  six  feet  below  the  surface  and  heated  to  a  temi)era- 
ture  of  20()"  F.,  and  the  saturation  or  specific  gravity  is 
shown  by  the  depth  to  which  the  hydrometer  sank  in  the 
water.  As  sea  water  commonly  contains  one  part  of  saline 
matter  to  thirty-two    parts  of  water,  the  instrument  is 


172     First  Landing  on  Wrangel  Island,  toith  some 

marked  in  thirty-seconds,  as  ^V?  ^'  ^^c.,  and  the  densities 
are  fractional  parts  of  one  thirty-second : 


POINTS  OF  OBSERVATION. 


a 


At  Saint  Michael's,  Bering  sea 

Off  Plover  bay,  Asia 

Arctic  ocean,  near  Bering  straits 

Arctic  ocean,  near  ice  on  Siberian  coast. 
Bering  sea,  off  Saint  Lawrence  island. . .. 
Golovine  bay,  Bering  sea,  July  10 


Bering  sea  between  Kind's  island  and  Cape  Prince  of  Wales, 
July  12 ": 


Entrance  to  Kotzebue  sound,  July  1:5 

Cape  Thompson,  Arctic  ocean,  July  IT 

Icy  cape,  July  24 

Herald  island,  in  the  ice,  July  80 

Cape  Wankarem,  Siberia,  August  5 

Wrangel  island  (surface,  in  ice),  August  12 

Wrangel  island  (below  .suifacc  6  feet),  Augu.-^t  12. 


50 
34 
32 
32 
34 
42 

44 
47 
30 
30 

31 
33 
31 
31 


* 


ome 

t  densities 

Temperature. 

Density. 

1 

50 

i 

.      34 

i 

.!    33 

f 

.1    33 

f 

.      34 

* 

43 

1 

* 

.'    44 

* 

J    47 

i 

.!     3G 

■i 

.      36 

f 

.      31 

i 

.      33 

i 

.      31 

1 

:     i 

.      31 

i     t 

Uemarks  on  the  NortJiern  Inhabitants. 


173 


The  following  table,  showing  the  dip  of  the  magnetic 
needle,  was  prepared  from  observations  made  by  Lieut. 
O.  D.  My  rick : 


LOCALITY. 


Alaska — 

Ounalaska 53  56 

St.  Michael's 63  27 

Kotzebue  sound 66  03 

Cape  Sabine 68  50 

Icy  cape  70  08 

Point  Barrow 71  23 

Asia — 

Plover  bay 04  31 

Cape  Wankarem 07  48 

Wrangcl  island 71  04 


Dip. 


If       B 
Q        S 


66 

53.5 

75 

00.6 

77 

OJ.O 

78 

47  8 

79 

56.3 

81 

18.6 

73 

34.7 

77 

09.7 

To  commemorate  our  visit,  a  flag,  placed  on  a  pole  of 
driftwood,  was  erected  on  a  cliff,  and  to  the  staff  was 
secured  a  wide-mouthed  bottle  and  a  tin  cvlinder,  in  which 
I  enclosed  information  of  our  landing,  etc.  On  raising  the 
flag  three  cheers  were  given,  and  a  salute  was  fired  from 
the  cutter  in  honor  of  our  newly  acquired  territory. 

These  evidences  of  our  short  visit,  which  was  soon  after- 
Avard  supplemented  by  the  more  i^xtended  exploration  of 
the  liodgers,  having  now  become  matters  of  historj^,  it  may 
be  remarked  with  pardonable  pride  that  the  acquisition  of 


174     First  Lamlimi  on  Wraiicfel  Island,  loith  some 

tliis  remote  island,  though  of  no  political  or  commercial 
value,  will  serve  the  higher  and  nobler  purpose  of  a  per- 
petual reminder  of  American  enterprise,  courage  and  mari- 
time skill. 


'I  I  i 


;       I 


Ctkneual  Remarks    on   the   Xoktiiehx  Inhabitants. 

From  an  anthropological  point  of  view  the  Eskimo  com- 
ing under  observation  proved  most  interesting.  The  term 
Eskimo  may  be  held  to  include  all  the  Innuit  population 
living  on  the  Aleutian  islands,  the  islands  of  Bering  sea, 
and  the  shores  both  of  Asia  and  America  north  of  about 
latitude  64".  In  this  latitude  on  the  American  coast  the 
ethnical  points  that  difference  the  North  American  from 
the  Eskimo  are  distinctly  marked.  It  cannot,  however,  be 
said  that  the  designating  marks  of  distinction  are  so 
plain  between  the  American  Eskimo  and  the  so-called 
Tchuktschi  of  the  Asiatic  coast.  I  have  been  unable  to 
see  anything  more  in  tlie  way  of  distinction  than  exists 
between  Englishmen  and  Danes,  for  instance,  or  between 
Norwegians  and  Swedes.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that 
much  of  the  confusion  and  absurdity  of  classification 
found  in  ethnographic  literature  may  be  traced  to  a  ten- 
dency to  see  diversities  where  few  or  none  exist.  To  the 
observant  man  of  travel  who  has  given  the  matter  any 
attention,  it  seems  that  the  most  sensible  classification  is 
that  of  the  ancient  writers  who  divide  humanity  into  three 
races,  namely,  white,  yellow,  and  black.  Cuvier  adopted 
this  division,  and  the  best  contemporary  British  authority, 
Dr.  Latham,  also  makes  three  groups,  although  he  varies 
somewhat  in  details  from  Cuvier.  In  accordance  with  the 
nomenclature  of  Latham,  the  Eskimo  may  be  spoken  of  as 


some 


Remarks  on  the  Northern  Inhabitants. 


175 


commercial 
je  of  a  per- 
e  and  mari- 


II  ABIT  ANTS. 

iskimo  com- 
The  term 

population 
Bering  sea, 
fch  of  about 
an  coast  the 
lerican  from 
however,  be 
■tion  are  so 
he  so-called 
■n  unable  to 

than  exists 
,  or  between 
e  said  that 
classification 
ced  to  a  ten- 
:ist.     To  the 

matter  any 
ssification  is 
ty  into  three 
vier  adopted 
^h  authority, 
igh  he  varies 
mce  with  the 

spoken  of  as 


Hyperborean  Mongolid^c  of  essentially  carnivorous  and 
ichthyophagous  habits,  who  have  not  yet  emerged  from 
the  hunting  and  fishing  stage. 

PHYSICAL    PECULARITIES. 

Their  physical  appearance  and  structure  having  been 
already  described  by  others,  it  is  unnecessary  to  mention 
them  here,  except  incidentally  and  by  way  of  noting  a  few 
peculiarities  that  seem  to  have  been  heretofore  overlooked 
or  slightly  touched  upon  by  other  Avriters.  Although  as  a 
rule  they  are  of  short  build,  averaging  about  five  feet  seven 
inches,  yet  occasional  exceptions  were  met  with  among  the 
natives  of  Kotzebue  sound,  many  of  whom  are  tall  and  of 
commanding  appearance.  At  Cape  Kruzenstern  a  man 
was  seen  who  measured  six  feet  six  inches  in  height.  This 
divergence  from  the  conventional  Eskimo  type,  as  usually 
described  in  the  books,  may  have  been  caused  by  inter- 
marriage with  an  inland  tribe  of  larger  men  from  the  inter- 
ior of  Alaska,  who  come  to  the  coast  every  summer  for 
purposes  of  trade. 

The  complexion,  rarely  a  true  white,  but  rather  that  of  a 
Chinaman,  with  a  healthy  blush  suffusing  each  cheek,  is 
often  of  a  brov^nish-yellow  and  sometimes  quite  black,  as  I 
have  seen  in  several  instances  at  Tapkan,  Siberia.  Nor  is 
the  broad  and  fiat  face  and  small  nose  without  exception. 
In  the  vicinity  of  East  cape,  the  eastermost  extremity  of 
Asia,  a  few  Eskimo  were  seen  having  distinctive  Hebrew 
noses  and  a  physiognomy  of  such  a  Jewish  type  as  to  excite 
the  attention  and  comment  of  the  sailors  composing  our 
crew  ;  others  were  noticed  having  a  Milesian  cast  of  features 
and  looked  like  Irishmen,  while  others  resembled  several 
old  mulatto  men  I  know  in  Washington.     However,  the 


II 


176     First  Landing  on  Wrangd  Island,  loith  some 


I  ' 


\J 


Mongoloid  type  in  these  people  was  so  pronounced  that  our 
Japanese  boys  on  meeting  Eskimo  for  the  tirst  time  took 
them  for  Chinamen;  on  the  other  hand  the  Japs  were 
objects  of  great  and  constant  curiosity  to  the  Eskimo,  who 
doubtless  took  them  for  compatriots,  a  fact  not  ti»  be  won- 
dered at,  since  there  is  such  a  similarity  in  the  shape  of  the 
eyes,  the  complexion,  and  hair.  In  regard  to  the  latter  it 
may  be  remarked  that  scarcely  anything  on  board  the  Cor- 
2oin  excited  greater  wonder  and  merriment  among  the  Es- 
kimo than  the  presence  of  several  persons  whom  Professor 
Huxley  would  classify  in  his  Xanthocroic  group  because  of 
their  liery  red  hair. 

The  structure  and  arrangement  of  the  hair  having  lately 
been  proposed  as  a  race  characteristic  upon  Avhich  to  base 
an  ethnical  classification,  I  took  pains  to  collect  various 
specimens  of  Innuit  hair,  which,  in  conjunction  with  Dr. 
Kidder,  U.  S.  N.,  I  examined  microscopically  and  compared 
with  the  hair  of  fair  and  blue-eyed  persons,  the  hair  of 
negroes,  and  as  a  matter  of  curiosity  with  the  reindeer  hair 
and  the  hair-like  appendage  found  on  the  fringy  extremity 
of  the  baleen  plates  in  the  mouth  of  a  ''bowhead  "  whale. 
Some  microphotographs  of  these  objects  were  made  but 
with  indifferent  results. 

To  the  man  willing  and  anxious  to  make  more  extended 
research  into  the  matter  of  race  characteristics.  I  venture  to 
say  that  a  northern  experience  will  afford  him  ample  oppor- 
tunity for  supplementing  Mr.  Murray's  paper  on  the  Ethno- 
logical Classification  of  Vernun  ;  and  he  may  further  observe 
that  the  Eskimo,  whatever  may  be  his  religious  belief  or 
predilection,  apparently  observes  the  prohibitions  of  the 
Talmud  in  regard  both  to  filth  and  getting  rid  of  noxious 
entomological  specimens  that  infest  his  body  and  habi'^  '  'on. 


^ome 


Remarks  on  the  Northern  Inhabitants. 


177 


3d  that  our 
time  took 
Japs  were 
kimo,  who 
ti>  be  won- 
lape  of  the 
he  latter  it 
rd  the  Cor- 
ng  the  Es- 
i  Professor 
»  because  of 

ving  lately 
ich  to  base 
3ct  various 
n  with  Dr. 
il  compared 
the  hair  of 
indeer  hair 
J  extremity 
id"  whale. 
\  made  but 

'e  extended 
[  venture  to 
tnple  oppor- 
1  the  Ethno- 
ther  observe 
lis  belief  or 
ions  of  the 
L  of  noxious 
habi*^  ''on. 


Whatever  modification  the  bodily  structure  of  the  Eskimo 
may  have  undergone  under  the  influence  of  physical  and 
moral  causes,  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  transcendental 
anatomy,  we  iind  that  the  mode,  plan,  or  model  upon  which 
his  animal  frame  and  organs  are  founded  is  substaullally 
that  of  other  varieties  of  men. 

Some  writers  go  so  far,  in  speaking  of  the  Eskimo's  cor- 
respondence, mental  and  physical,  to  his  surroundings  as 
to  mention  the  seal  as  his  correlative,  which,  in  my  opinion, 
is  about  as  sensible  as  speaking  of  the  reciprocal  relations 
of  a  Cincinnati  man  and  a  hog.  Unlike  the  seal,  which  is 
preeminently  an  amphibian  and  a  swimmer,  the  Eskimo 
has  no  physical  capability  of  the  latter  kind,  being  unable 
to  swim  and  having  the  greatest  aversion  to  water  except 
for  purposes  of  navigation.  He  wins  our  admiration  from 
the  expert  management  at  sea  of  his  little  shuttle-shaped 
canoe,  which  is  a  kind  of  marine  bicycle,  but  I  doubt  very 
much  the  somersaults  he  is  reported  to  be  able  to  turn  in 
them.  In  fact,  after  offering  rewards  of  that  all-powerful 
incentive,  tobacco,  on  numerous  occasions,  I  have  been  un- 
successful in  getting  any  one  of  them  to  attempt  the  feat, 
and  when  told  that  we  had  heard  of  their  doing  it  they 
smiled  rather  incredulously.  The  Eskimo  are  clearly  not 
successes  in  a  cubistic  or  saltatorial  line,  as  1  have  had  amjile 
opportunities  to  observe.  They  seem  to  be  unable  to  do 
the  simplest  gymnastics,  and  were  filled  with  the  greatest 
delight  and  ast(mishnient  at  some  exhibitions  we  gave  them 
on  several  occasions.  Receiving  a  challenge  to  run  a  foot- 
race with  an  Eskimo,  I  came  off  easy  winner,  although  I 
was  liandicapi)ed  by  being  out  of  condition  at  the  time  ;  a 
challenge  to  throw  stones  also  resulted  in  the  same  kind  of 
\  ictory  ;  I  shouldered  and  carried  some  logs  of  driftwood 


Hi! 


/ 1 
I 


178     First  Lancling  on  Wranr/cl  Mand,  witJi  some 


I  : 


'!  !     :  .  i 


that  none  of  them  coult^  lift,  and  on  another  occasion  the 
captain  and  I  demonstrated  the  physical  superiority  of  the 
An^lo-Saxon  by  throwing  a  walrus  lance  several  lengths 
farther  than   any  of  the  Eskimo  who  had  provoked   the 
competition.     As  a  nile  they  are  deficient  in  biceps,  and 
have  not  the  well-developed  muscles  of  athletic  white  men. 
The  best  muscular  development   I  saw  w\as   among  the 
natives  of  Saint  Lawrence  island,  who,  bv  the  wav,  showed 
me  a  spot  in  a  village  where  they  practiced  athletic  sports, 
one  of  these  diversions  being  lifting  and  "putting"  heavy 
stones,  and  I  have  frankly  to  acknowledge  that  a  young 
Eskimo  got  the  better  of  me  in  a  competition  of  this  kind. 
It  is  fair  to  assume  that  one  reason  for  this  physical  supe- 
riority was  the  inexorable  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest, 
the  natives  in  question  being  the  survivors  of  a  recent  pre- 
vailing epidemic  and  famine. 


ESKIMO   Al'PETITES. 

As  far  as  my  experience  goes  the  Eskimo  have  not  the 
enormous  appetites  with  wiiich  tliey  are  iisually  accredited. 
The  Eskimo  who  accompanied  Lieutenant  May,  of  the  Nares 
Expedition,  on  his  sledge  journey,  is  reported  to  have  been 
a  small  eater,  and  the  only  case  of  scurvv,  by  the  wav: 
several  Eskimo  who  were  employed  on  board  the  Carwin  as 
dog-drivers  and  interpreters  were  as  a  rule  smaller  eaters 
than  our  own  men,  and  I  have  observed  on  numerous  occa- 
sions among  the  Eskimo  I  have  visited,  that  instead  of 
being  great  gluttons,  they  are,  on  the  contrary,  moderate 
eaters.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  revolting  character  of  their 
food— rancid  oil,  a  tray  of  hot  seal  entrails,  a  bowl  of 
coagulated  blood,  for  example— that  causes  overestimation 
of  the  quantity  eaten.     Persons  in  wliom  nausea  and  dis- 


some 


liemarks  on  the  NortJiern  Inlahitants. 


179 


:)coasion  tLe 
ority  of  the 
?ra]  lengths 
ovoked  the 
biceps,  and 

white  men. 

among  the 
vay,  showed 
letic  sports, 
ing"  heavy 
at  a  young 
f  this  kind . 
ysical  supe- 
f  the  fittest, 
I  recent  pre- 


ave  not  the 
;  accredited, 
of  the  Nares 
o  have  been 
>y  the  way ; 
le  Corioin  as 
laller  eaters 
iierous  occa- 
t  instead  of 
•y,  moderate 
ter  of  their 
a  bowl  of 
erestimation 
sea  and  dis- 


gnst  are  awakened  at  tripe,  putrid  game,  or  moldy  and 
maggotty  cheese  afl'ected  by  so-called  ei)icures,  not  to  men- 
tion the  bad  oysters  which  George  I.  preferred  to  fresh 
ones,  would  doubtless  be  prejudiced  and  incorrect  observers 
as  to  the  quantity  of  food  an  Eskimo  might  consume. 
P^rom  some  acquaintance  with  the  subject  I  therefore 
venture  to  say  that  the  popular  notion  regarding  the  great 
appetite  of  the  Eskimo  is  one  of  the  current  fallacies.  The 
reported  cases  were  probably  exceptional  ones,  happening 
in  subjects  who  liad  been  exercising  and  living  on  little  else 
than  frozen  air  for  j^erhaps  a  week.  Any  vigorous  man  in 
the  prime  of  life  who  has  been  shooting  all  day  in  the  sharp, 
crisp  air  of  the  Arctic  will  be  surprised  at  his  gastronomic 
capabilities ;  and  personal  knowledge  of  some  almost  in- 
credible instances  amongst  civilized  men  might  be  related, 
were  it  not  for  fear  of  being  accused  of  transcending  the 
bounds  of  veracity. 

OKIGIN    AND    DEVELOPMENT. 

There  is  so  much  about  certain  parts  of  Alaska  to  remind 
one  of  Scotland  that  we  wonder  why  some  of  the  more 
southern  Eskimo  have  not  the  intrepidity  and  vigor  of 
Scotchmen,  since  they  live  under  almost  the  same  topo- 
graphical conditions  amid  fogs  and  misty  hills.  Perhai)s 
if  they  were  fed  on  oatmeal,  and  could  be  nuide  to  adopt  a 
few  of  the  Scotch  manners  and  customs,  religious  and 
otherwise,  they  might,  after  infinite  ages  of  evolution, 
develop  some  of  the  qualities  of  that  excellent  race.  It  is 
probably  not  so  very  many  generations  ago  that  our  British 
progenitors  were  like  these  original  and  primitive  men  as 
we  find  them  in  the  vicinity  of  Bering  straits.  Here  the 
mind  is  taken   back  over  centuries,  and  one  is  able  to 


■v« 


1  ■ 


t. 


180     First  Landing  on  Wr angel  Island,  with  some 

study  the  link  of  transition  between  the  primitive  men  of 
the  two  continents  at  the  spot  where  their  geograpical  rela- 
tions lead  us  to  susj)e('t  it.  Indeed,  the  primitive  man  nuiy 
be  seen  just  as  he  was  thousands  of  years  ago  by  visiting 
the  village  perched  like  the  eyry  of  some  wild  bird  about 
200  feet  up  the  side  of  the  cliff  at  East  cape,  on  the  Asiatic 
side  of  the  straits.  This  bold,  rocky  cliff,  rising  sheer 
from  the  sea  to  the  height  of  2,100  feet,  consists  of  granite, 
with  lava  here  and  there,  and  the  indications  point  to  the 
overflow  of  a  vast  ice  sheet  from  the  north,  evidences  of 
which  are  seen  in  the  trend  of  the  ridges  on  the  top,  and 
the  form  of  the  narro'v  peninsula  joining  the  cliff  to  the 
mainland.  From  the  summit  of  the  cape  the  Diomedes, 
Fairway  Rock,  nnd  the  American  coast  are  so  easily  seen 
that  the  view  on'-e  taken  would  dispel  any  doubts  as  to  the 
possibility  of  the  aboriginal  denizens  of  America  having 
crossed  over  from  Asia,  and  it  would  require  no  such  state- 
n\ent  to  corroborate  the  opinion  as  that  of  an  officer  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  then  resident  in  Ungava  bay,  who 
relates  that  in  1839  an  Eskimo  family  crossed  to  Labrador 
from  the  northern  tjhore  of  Hudson's  straits  on  a  raft 
of  driftwood.  Natives  cross  and  recross  Bering  straits 
to-day  on  the  ice  and  in  primitive  skin  canoes,  not  unlike 
Cape  Cod  dories,  which  have  not  been  improved  in  con- 
struction since  the  days  of  pi-ehistoric  num.  Indeed,  the 
l)rimitive  man  may  be  seen  at  East  cape  almost  as  he  was 
thousands  of  years  ago.  Evolution  and  development,  with 
the  exception  of  firearms,  seem  to  have  halted  at  East 
cape.  The  place,  with  its  cave-like  ilwellings  and  skin- 
clad  inhabitants,  among  whom  the  presence  of  white  men 
creates  the  same  excitement  as  the  advent  of  a  circus 
among  the  colored  population  of  Washington,  makes  one 


I 


i 


%  some 

iiitive  men  of 
i?rapical  rela- 
ive  man  may 

0  by  visiting 

1  })ii'd  about 
n  tlie  Asiatic 

risin<;  sheer 
ts  of  granite, 
point  to  the 
evidences  of 
the  top,  and 
3  cliif  to  the 
e  Diomedes, 
0  easily  seen 
ibts  as  to  the 
erica  having 
o  sucli  state- 
officer  of  the 
va  bay,  who 
to  Labrador 
on  a  raft 
Bring  straits 
1,  not  unlike 
ved  in  con- 
Indeed,  the 
^t  as  he  was 
pment,  with 
ted  at  East 
s  and  skin- 
white  men 
of  a   circus 
makes  one 


RemarJiS  on  the  Nortliern,  Inlinhliants. 


181 


fancy  that  he  is  in  some  grand  i)rehistoric  museum,  and 
that  lie  has  gone  backward  in  time  several  tliousand  years 
in  order  to  get  there. 

While  we  m;iy  do  something  towards  tracing  the  eifects 
of  i)hysical  agents  on  the  Eskimo  back  into  the  darkness 
that  antedates  history,  yet  his  geograi)hical  origin  and  his 
anti([uity  are  things  concerning  which  we  know  but  little. 
Being  subjects  of  first-class  interest,  deserving  of  grave 
study  and  so  vast  in  themselves,  the}  cannot  l)e  touched 
ii])on  here  except  incidentally.  Attempting  to  study  tliem 
is  like  following  the  labvrinthal  ice  mazes  of  the  Arctic  in 
quest  of  the  North  Pole. 

We  nuiy,  however,  venture  the  assertion  that  the  Eskimo 
is  of  autocthouic  origin  in  Asia,  but  is  not  autoctlionous  in 

.;_  America.     His  arrival  there  and  subsecpient  migrations  are 

^  beyond  the  reach  of  history  or  tradition.  Others,  though, 
('(mtend  from  the  analogy  of  some  of  the  western  tribes  of 
Brazil,  who  are  identical  in  feature  to  the  Chinese,  that  the 
Eskimo  may   have  come  from  South   America ;  and   the 

;  fashion  of  wearing  labrets,  which  is  common  to  the  indig- 
enous population  both  of  Chili  and  Alaska,  has  been  cited 
as  a  further  proof . 

Touching  the  subject  of  early  migrations,  Mr.  Charles 
Wolcott  Brooks,  whose  sources  of  information  at  comnuind 

:^  liave  been  exceptionally  good,  reports  in  a  paper  to  tlie 

"':-:  California  Academy  of  Sciences  a  record  of  sixty  Japanese 
junks  which  were  blown  off  the  coast  and  by  the  influence 
of  the  Kuro-Shiwo  were  drifted  or  stranded  on  the  coast  of 

■  North   America,  or  on  the  Hawaiian  or  adjacent  islands. 

I  As  merchant  ships  and  ships  of  war  are  known  to  have  been 
built  in  Japan  prior  to  the  Christian  era,  a  great  number  of 
disabled  junks  containing  snuill  parties  of  Japanese  must 


r 


182      Fir.st  LdiiduKj  oit  Wranffd  Island,  with  some 

have  been  stranded  on  flie  Aleutian  islands  and  on  the 
Alaskan  coast  in  past<'enlni'ies,  thereby  furnishing  evidence 
of  a  constant  infusion  of  Japanese  blood  among  the  coast 
tribes. 

Leaving  aside  any  attempt  to  show  the  ethnical  relations 
of  these  facts,  the  question  natui'ally  occurs  whether  any 
of  tliese  waifs  ever  found  their  way  back  from  the  American 
coast.  On  observing  the  conrse  of  the  great  circle  of  the 
Kuro-Shiwo  and  the  course  of  the  trade  winds,  one  inclines 
to  the  belief  that  such  a  thing  is  not  beyond  the  range  of 
possibility.  Indeed,  several  well-authenticated  instances 
are  mentioned  by  Mr.  Brooks  ;  and  in  connection  with  the 
subject  he  advances  a  further  liypothesis,  namely,  the  Ame- 
rican origin  of  the  Chinese  race,  and  shows  in  a  plausil)le 
way  that — 

'Jhe  ancestry  of  China  may  have  embarked  in  large  vest-els  as  emigrants, 
perhaps  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Cliincha  Islands,  or  proceeded  with  a  large 
fleet,  lilie  the  early  Chinese  expedition  against  .Japan,  or  that  of  .Julius  Cajsar 
against  Britain,  or  the  Welsh  Prince  Madog  and  his  party,  who  sailed  from 
Ireland  and  landed  in  America  A.  D.  1170;  and,  in  like  manner,  in  the  dateless 
anti'cedure  of  history,  crossed  from  the  neighborhood  of  Peru  to  the  country 
now  known  to  us  as  China. 

If  America  be  the  oldest  continent,  paleontologically 
spetiking,  as  Agassiz  tells  us,  there  appears  to  be  some 
reason  for  looking  to  it  as  the  spot  where  etirly  traces  of 
the  race  are  to  be  found,  and  the  fact  would  seem  to  war- 
rant further  study  and  investigation  in  connec^tion  with  the 
indigenous  people  of  our  continent,  thereby  awakening 
new  sources  of  inquiry  among  ethnologists. 

LINtJl  ISTIC    PECULIAKITIES. 

The  sienite  plummet  from  San  Joaquin  Valley,  Califor- 
nia, goes  back  to  the  distant  age  of  the  Drift ;  and  the 


'i  .some 


Jinnnrkx  on  the  Xortlicni   Iiih(ihif<iuts. 


18;j 


and  on  the 
ling  evidence 
ig  the  coast 

cal  relations 
vhether  any 
lie  American 
'ircle  of  the 
one  inclines 
he  range  of 
ed  instances 
ion  with  the 
ly,  the  Am e- 
a  plausil)le 

3ls  as  emigrants, 
ed  with  a  large 
of  Julius  Cajsar 
vho  sailed  from 
r,  in  the  dateless 
I  to  the  countrj- 

>ntologically 
to  be  some 
rly  traces  of 
3em  to  war- 
ion  with  the 
awakening 


ley,  Califor- 
ft :  and  the 


Calaveras  skull,  admitting  its  authenticity,  goes  back  to 
the  Pliocene  epoch,  and  is  older  than  the  relics  or  stone 
implements  from  tlie  drift  gravel  and  the  ?j>iropean  caves. 

It  is  dou])tful,  though,  whether  these  data  enable  us  to 
make  generalizations  equal  in  value  to  those  afforded  by 
the  study  of  vocabidaries.  It  is  alleged  that  linguistic 
affinities  exist  between  some  of  the  tribes  of  the  American 
coast  and  our  Oriental  neighbors  across  the  Pacific.  Mr. 
Brooks,  whom  I  have  already  quoted,  reports  that  in 
March,  1860,  he  took  an  Indian  l)oy  on  board  the  Japanese 
steam  corvette  Ka7iri)i-niaru,  where  a  comparison  of  Coast- 
Indian  and  pure  Japanese  was  made  at  his  request  by 
Funkuzawa  Ukitchy,  then  Admiral's  secretary  ;  the  result 
of  which  he  prepared  for  the  press  and  published  with  a 
view  to  suggesting  further  linguistic  investigations.  He 
says  that  quite  an  infusion  of  Japanese  words  is  found 
among  some  of  the  Coast  tribes  of  Oregon  and  California, 
either  pure  or  clipped,  along  with  some  very  peculiar 
Japanese  "idioms,  constructions,  honorific,  separative,  and 
agglutinative  particles"  ;  that  shipwrecked  Japanese  are 
invariably  enabled  to  communicate  understandingly  with 
the  Coast  Indians,  although  speaking  quite  a  different  lan- 
guage, and  that  many  shipwrecked  Japanese  have  informed 
him  that  they  were  enabled  to  communicate  with  and 
understand  the  natives  of  Atka  and  Adakh  islands  of  the 
Aleutian  group. 

With  a  view  to  finding  out  whether  any  linguistic  affin- 
ity existed  between  Japanese  and  the  Eskimo  dialects  in 
the  vicinity  of  Bering  straits,  I  caused  several  Japanese 
boys,  employed  as  servants  on  board  the  Cor  win,  to  talk 
on  numerous  occasions  to  the  natives  both  of  the  American 
a,nd  Asiatic  coasts  ;  but  in  every  instance  they  Avere  unable 


^ 


184      Firfif  Ijonff/iif/ on  Wntiujii  Ishmd,  irt'f/t  some 

to  muUTstaiid  tlu'  Ksklnio,  nnd  nssurod  me  that  they  could 
not  detect  Ji  ,sin<ile  word  tlmt  bore  any  resemblance  to 
words  in  their  own  lan^nia^^e. 

The  study  of  the  linj^iiistic  peculiarities  which  distin<iuish 
the  ])oiiulation  around  Herinj;- straits  offers  an  untiodden 
l)ath  in  a  new  iield  ;  but  it  is  doubtl'ul  whether  the  results, 
except  to  linguists  like  Cardinal  Mezzol'anti.  or  philolouists 
of  the  Max  Midler  type,  would  be  at  all  comniensurate 
witli  the  efforts  expended  in  this  direction,  since  it  is 
asserted  that  tlie  human  voice  is  incapable  of  articulatin<i- 
more  than  twenty  distinct  sounds,  therefoie  whatever  re- 
send)lances  there  may  be  in  the  ])arti<-ular  words  of  differ- 
ent languages  are  of  no  ethnic  value.  Although  tliese  nuiy 
be  the  views  of  many  persons  not  only  in  regard  to  the 
Eskimo  tongue  but  in  regard  to  i)hilology  in  general,  the 
matter  has  a  wonderful  fascination  for  more  speculative 
minds. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  affinity  of  language  anumg 
the  Eskimo — some  asserting  that  it  is  such  as  to  allow 
mutual  intercourse  everywhere  —but  instances  warrant  us 
in  concluding  that  consider; i  i-  deviati(ms  exist  in  their 
vocabularies,  if  not  in  the  grammatical  construction.  For 
instance,  take  two  Avords  that  one  hears  oftener  than  an 
others:  On  the  Alaska  coast  they  say  ''na-koo-nik,"  a 
word  meaning  "good,"  "all  right,"  etc.  ;  on  the  Siberian 
coast  "mah-zink-ah,"  while  a  vocabulary  collected  during 
Lieutenant  Scliwatka's  expedition  gives  the  word  '*nudi- 
muk'-poo"  for  "good."  The  tirst  two  of  these  words  are 
so  characteristic  of  the  tJ'ibes  on  tiie  respective  shores  above 
the  strafts  that  a  better  designation  tluin  any  yet  given  to 
them  by  writers  on  the  subject  would  be  jS^aJioorooks  for 
the  people  on  the  American  side  and  MdzinJmhs  for  those 


some 

\  tlipy  could 
•mblaiice  to 

distinguish 
II  untroddcu 

the  results, 
philolosi'ists 
uiinensunite 

since  it  is 
articulating' 
vhatrvt'i  re- 
ds of  ditt'er- 
h  these  nuiy 
■^ard  to  the 
fi;eneral,  tiie 

specuhitive 

^uage  anion^' 
as  to  allow 
<  warrant  us 
xist  in  their 
uction.     For 
ner  tluin  an 
koo-ruk,"  a 
the  Siberian 
ected  during 
word  "niaii- 
se  words  are 
shores  above 
yet  given  to 
koorooks  for 
ihs  for  those 


licmarlc-i  on  Uw  Korthcrn  ln/mbllaii(s 


lai 


on  the  Silu'i'ian  coast.  Thes«'  nanu'S,  bv  which  thev  know 
eacli  other,  are  in  general  use  among  the  whalenu^n  and 
Avere  adopted  by  everyone  on  board  the  (hrwin. 

Again,  on  the  Anieiican  coast  "  Ani-a-luk-tuk"  signifies 
]>lenty,  while  on  the  Siberian  coast  it  is  "Nuni-kuck-ct>." 
"Tee-tee-tali"  means  needles  in  Siberia,  in  Alaska  it  is 
*'mitkin."  In  the  latter  place  wlu^r  asking  for  tobacco 
they  say  "  te-ba-midi,"  while  the  Asiatics  say  "saloi)a." 
That  a  number  of  dudects  exists  around  Bering  straits  is 
appai'ent  to  the  most  superficial  observer.  The  difference 
in  the  language  becomes  apparent  after  leaving  Norton 
sound.  The  interpretei-  we  took  from  Saint  Michael's  could 
only  with  difficulty  untlerstand  the  natives  at  Point  Bar- 
row, while  at  Saint  Lawrence  island  and  on  tlie  Asiatic  side 
he  coidd  understand  nothing  at  all.  At  East  cape  we  saw 
natives  who,  thougli  ai)]iarently  alike,  did  not  understand 
each  other's  language.  I  saw  the  same  thing  at  (Ja])e 
Prince  of  Wales,  tlie  western  extrennty  of  the  New  World, 
whither  a  nund)er  of  Eskimo  from  tlie  Wankarem  river, 
Siberia,  had  come  to  trade.  Doubtless  there  is  a  commun- 
ity of  origin  in  the  PiSkimo  tongue,  and  these  verbal  diverg- 
encies  may  be  owing  to  the  want  of  written  records  to  aive 
fixity  to  the  language,  since  languages  reseml)le  living 
organisms  by  being  in  a  state  of  continiud  change.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  we  know  that  this  people  has  imported  a  number 
of  woi'ds  from  coming  in  contact  with  another  language, 
just  as  the  French  have  incorporated  into  their  speech 
"le  steppeur,"  'Toutsider,"  ''le  liigh  life,"  "le  steeple 
i'hase."  "le  jockey  club."  etc. — words  that  have  no  cor- 
relatives in  French — so  the  Eskimo  has  ap])ropriated  from 
the  whalers  words  wliich,  as  verbal  expressions  of  his  idea- 
on,  are  undoubtedly  better  than  anything  in   his  own 


186      Firs/  Landing  on  Wrangcl  Island,  with  some 


tongue 


One  of  these  is  "'bv  and  bv,"  which  he  uses  with 
the  same  frequency  that  a  Spaniard  does  his  favorite 
manana  par  la  nutnano.  In  this  instance  the  words  ex- 
press the  state  of  development  and  habits  of  thought — one 
the  lazy  improvidence  of  the  P]skimo,  and  the  other  the 
*' to-morrow'"  of  the  Spaniard,  who  has  indulged  that 
propensity  so  far  that  his  nation  has  become  one  of  yester- 
day. 

The  change  of  the  Eskimo  language  brought  about  by  its 
coming  in  contact  with  another  forms  an  important  element 
in  its  history,  and  has  been  mentioned  by  tlie  older  writers, 
also  by  Gilder,  who  reports  a  change  in  the  language  of  the 
Iwillik  Eskimo  to  have  taken  place  since  the  advent  among 
them  of  the  white  men.  Among  other  peculiarities  of  their 
phraseology  occurs  the  word  "tanuk,"  signifying  whiskey, 
aad  it  is  said  to  have  originated  with  an.  old  Eskimo 
employed  by  Moore  as  a  guide  and  dog-driver  when  he 
wintered  in  Plover  bay.  Every  day  about  noon  that  per- 
sonage was  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  appetizer  and  usually 
said  to  the  Eskimo,  "Come,  Joe,  let's  take  our  tonic." 
Like  most  of  his  coimtrymen,  Joe  was  not  slow  to  learn  the 
meaning  of  the  word,  and  to  this  day  the  tii-m  hold 
"  tanuk"  has  on  the  language  is  only  equalled  by  the  thirst 
for  the  fluid  which  the  name  implies.  Among  the  Asiatic 
Eskimo  the  word  "  um-muck"  is  common  for  "  rum,"  while 
"  em-mik  "  means  water.  Even  words  brought  by  whalers 
from  the  South  Sea  islands  have  obtained  a  footing,  such 
as  "kow-kow"  for  food,  a  word  in  general  use,  and  "pow'* 
for  " no,"  or  "not any."  They  also  call  their  babies  " pick- 
a-nee-nee,"  which  to  many  perpons  will  suggest  the  Spanish 
word  or  the  Southern  negro  idiom  for  ' '  baby."  The  phras( 
"  pick-a-nee-nee  kowkow"  is  the  usual  formula  in  begging 


1 


li  some 

he  uses  with 
his  favorite 
he  words  ex- 
hoiight— one 
he  other  the 
idulged  that 
)ne  of  yester- 


Remarkfi  on  tlie  Xortheni  Inhabitants. 


187 


r 


about  by  its 
tant  element 
older  writers, 
nf^uage  of  the 
advent  among 
irities  of  their 
ying  whiskey, 
I.  old  Eskimo 
'iver  when  he 
loon  that  per- 
er  and  usually 
ie  our  tonic." 
ow  to  learn  the 
the  tirm   hold 
ed  by  the  thirst 
)ng  the  Asiatic 
'"rum,"  while 
ght  by  whalers 
a  footing,  such 
se,  and^'pow" 
r  babies ''pick- 
;est  the  Spanish 
."     Thephras( 
nula  in  begging 


food  for  their  children.  An  Eskimo,  having  sold  us  a  rein- 
deer, said  it  would  be  "mazinkah  kow-kow"  (good  eating), 
and  one  windy  day  we  were  hauling  the  seine,  and  an 
Eskimo  seeing  its  empty  condition  when  pulled  on  to  the 
beach,  said,  "'Pow'  hsh ;  binjeby  'pow'  wind,  plenty 
fish." 

The  fluency  with  which  some  of  these  fellows  speak  a 
mixture  of  jiigeon  English  and  whaleman's  jargon  is  quite 
astonishing,  and  suggests  the  query  whetlier  their  fluency 
results  from  the  aggressiveness  of  the  English  or  is  it  an 
evidence  of  their  aptitude  •'  It  seems  wonderful  how  a 
l)eople  we  are  accustomed  to  look  upon  as  ignorant,  be- 
nighted and  undeveloped,  can  learn  to  talk  English  with  a 
certain  degree  of  fluency  and  intelligibility  from  the  short 
intercourse  held  once  a  yc;'.r  with  a  few  passing  ships.  How 
many  "hoodlums"  in  San  Francisco,  for  instance,  learn 
anything  of  Norwegian  or  German  from  frequenting  the 
wharves  '.  How  many  * '  wharf  rats ' '  or  stevedort  s  in  New 
York  learn  anything  of  these  languages  from  similar  inter- 
course 'i  Or,  for  that  matter,  we  may  ask.  How  many  New 
York  pilots  have  acquired  even  the  smallest  modicum  of 
Fren'h  from  boarding  the  steamers  of  the  Compagnie 
Clenerale  Transatlantique  ? 

F)om  a  few  examples  it  will  be  seen  that  the  usage  fol- 
lowed by  the  Eskimo  in  its  grammatical  variations  rests  on 
th«*  fixity  of  the  radical  syllable  and  upon  the  agglomeration 
of  vhe  dift'erent  particles  intended  to  modify  the  primitive 
sense  of  this  root,  that  is  to  say  upon  the  principle  of 
agghitinative  languages.  One  or  two  instances  may  suffice 
to  sliow  the  agglutinate  character  of  the  language.  Canoe 
is  "o-ine-uk;"  ship  "  o-me-uk-puk  ; "  steamer  "o-me-uk- 
puk-ignelik ; "    and  this  composite  mechanical  structure 


\\ 


:l 


1 


188      Fhst  Landinff  on  Wrcmgel  Island,  with  some 

reaches  its  cliiuax  in  steaiii-ljiiinoli,  which  they  call  "o-me- 
uk-puk-i^nielik-pick-a-nee-nee.''' 

For  snow  and  ice  in  their  various  forms  there  are  also 
many  words  which  show  further  the  jiolysynthetic  structure 
of  the  language— a  fact  contrary  to  that  primitive  condition 
of  speech  where  there  are 'no  inflections  to  indicate  the  rela- 
tions of  the  words  to  each  other.  It  will  not  do  to  omit 
"  0-kee-chuck  "  from  this  enumeration—a  word  signifying 
trade,  barter,  or  sale,  and  one  most  conmionly  heard  among 
these  people.  When  they  wish  to  say  a  thing  is  bad  they 
use  -^  A-shu-ruk,"  and  when  disapproval  is  meant  they  say 
"•pe-chuk."  The  latter  word  also  expresses  general  nega- 
tion. For  instance,  on  looking  into  several  unoccupied 
houses  a  native  informs  us  "Innuitpechuk,"  meaning  that 
the  people  are  away  oi-  not  at  home;  "Allopar"  is  cold, 
and  "allopar  pechnk"  is  hot.  Persons  fond  of  tracing 
resemblances  may  And  in  "Ignik"  (fire)  a  similarity  to  the 
Latin  'hju'is  or  the  English  "ignite."  and  from  "Un-gi  doo- 
ruk "  (big,  huge)  the  transition  down  to  "hunky-dory"' 
is  easy.  Those  who  see  a  sort  of  compleniental  relation  to 
each  other  of  linguistic  affinity  and  the  conformity  in  piiy- 
sical  characters  may  infer  from  "Mikey-doo-rook"  (a  term 
of  endearment  equivalent  to  "Mavourneen"  and  used  in 
addressing  little  children)  that  the  inhabitants  within  the 
Polar  Circle  have  something  of  tlie  Emerald  Isle  aboii.t 
them.  But  no,  they  are  not  Irish,  for  when  they  are  about 
to  leave  the  ship  or  any  othei'  place  for  their  houses  they 
say  "to  hum"  ;  consequently  they  are  Yankees. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  thought  frivolous  in  my  notions  re- 
garding the  noble  science  of  pliilology  ;  but  when  one  con- 
siders the  changes  that  language  is  constantly  undergoing, 
the  inal)ility  of  the  human  voice  to  articulate  more  than 


tw 
in 
tri 
de 
R( 
P< 


'/  some 


Remarks  on  the  Nortliern  InJi'^th Hants. 


189 


call  "o-me- 

ere  are  also 

tic  structure 

ve  conditioi\ 

ate  the  rela- 

t  do  to  omit 

d  signifyiui;- 

leard  anion*;- 

is  bad  they 

[int  they  say 

?neral  nega- 

unoccupied 

iieaningthat 

ir"  is  cold, 

of   tracing 

larity  to  the 

"Un-gi  doo- 

mky-dory "' 

1  relation  to 

lity  in  phy- 

3k"  (a  term 

ind  used  in 

within  the 

Isle  about 

y  are  about 

louses  they 

s. 

notions  re- 
en  (me  con- 
7i(lergoing, 
more  tliau 


twenty  distinct  sounds,  and  the  wonderful  amount  of 
Ipngenious  learning  that  has  been  wasted  by  philologists  on 
triHing  subjects,  one  is  disposed  to  associate  many  of  their 
deductions  with  the  savage  picture-writing  on  Dighton 
Jlock,  the  Cardiff  (riant,  and  the  old  wind-mill  at  New- 
port. 

ESKIMO   DIKTETICS. 

Attempts  to  trace  or  discover  the  origin  of  races  through 
supposed  philological  analogies  do  not  possess  the  advan- 
tage of  certainty  afforded  by  the  study  of  the  means  by 
which  individuals  of  the  race  supply  the  continuous  de- 
mands of  the  body  with  the  nutriment  necessary  to  main- 
tain life  and  health. 

Everybody  has  heard  of  the  seal,  bear,  walrus,  and  w  hale 
in  connection  with  Eskimo  dietetics,  and  doubtless  the 
stomachs  of  nu)st  persons  would  revolt  at  the  idea  of  eating 
tliese  animals,  the  taste  for  which,  by  the  way,  is  merely  a 
matter  of  early  education  or  individual  preference,  foi' 
tliere  is  no  good  reason  why  they  should  not  be  just  as 
jtalatable  to  the  northern  appetite  as  pig,  sheep,  and  beef 
ai-e  to  the  inhabitants  of  temperate  latitudes.  As  food 
tliey  renew  the  nitrogenous  tissues,  reconstruct  the  parts 
and  restore  the  functions  of  the  Eskimo  frame,  prolong  his 
existence,  and  produce  the  same  animal  contentment  and 
joy  as  the  more  civilized  viands  of  the  white  man's  table. 
There  are  more  palatable  things  than  bear  or  eider  duck, 
yet  T  know  many  persons  to  whom  snails,  olive  oib  and 
pate  de  fois  rjras  are  more  repugnant.  A  tray  full  of  hot 
seal  entrails,  a  bowl  of  coagulated  blood,  and  ])utri(1  fish 
are  not  very  inviting  or  lickerish  to  ordinary  mortals,  yet 
rliey  have  their  analogue  in  the  dish  of  some  farmers  who 
eat  a  jireparation  of  pig's  bowels  known  as  "chitterlings," 


;i 


X        f 


i 


li»(»     First  Landinff  on  Wmuffd  Maud,  with  some 

and  in  the  blood-puddings  and  Limburger  cheese  of  the 
Cxermans.       Blubber-oil  and   whale  are  not   very  dainty 
dishes,   yet  consider  how  many  families  subsist  on  half- 
baked  saleratus  biscuits,  suited  pork,  and  oleomargarine. 
On  the  mess  table  of  the  Fur  Company's  -establishment 
at  St.  Paul  island,  seal  meat  is  a  daily  article  of  consump- 
tion, and  from  personal  experience  I  can  testify  as  to  its 
palatability,  although  it  reminded  one  of  indifferent  beef 
rather  overdone.     Hair  seal  and  bear  steaks  were  on  differ- 
ent occasions  tried  at  the  mess  on  board  the  Corwin,  but 
everybody  voted  eider  duck  and  reindeer  the  preference. 
It  is  not  so  very  long  since  that  whale  was  a  favorite  article 
of  diet  in  England  and  Holland,  and  Arctic  whalemen  still, 
to  my  personal  knowledge,   use  the  freshly  tried  oil  in 
cooking ;  for  instance  in  frying  cakes,  for  which  they  say 
it  answers  the  purpose  as  well  as  the  finest  lard,   while 
others  breakfast  on  whale  and  potatoes  prepared  after  the 
manner  of  codfish  balls.     The  whale  I  have  tasted  is  rather 
insipid  eating,  yet  it  appears  to  be  highly  nutritious,  judg- 
ing from  the  well-nourished  look  of  natives  who  have  lived 
on  it,  and  the  air  of  greasy  abundance  and  happy  content- 
ment that  pervades  an  Eskimo  village  just  after  the  capture 
of  a  whale.    Being  ashore  one  day  with  our  pilot,  we  met 
a  native  woman  whom  he  recognized  as  a  former  acquaint- 
ance, and  on  remarking  to  her  that  she  had  picked  up  in 
ffesh  since  he  last  saw  her,  she  replied  that  she  had  been 
living  on  a  whale  all  the  Winter,   which  explained  her 
l)lumpness. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  whale,  seal 
and  walrus  constitute  the  entire  food  supply  of  the  Arctic. 
There  is  scarcely  any  more  toothsome  delicacy  than  rein- 
deer, the  tongue  of  which  is  very  dainty  and  succulent. 


I  some 


Memarl's  on  the  Northern  Inhaliiiants. 


191 


leese  of  the 
very  dainty 
list  on  half- 
'omargarine. 
^tablishment 
of  consump- 
if  y  as  to  its 
ifferent  beef 
3re  on  ditfer- 
Corwin,  but 
;  preference, 
v'orite  article 
alemen  still, 

tried  oil  in 
ich  they  say 

lard,  while 
red  after  the 
ted  is  rather 
itioiis,  judg- 
lo  have  lived 
ppy  content- 
r  the  capture 
jilot,  we  met 
ler  ac  quaint - 
picked  up  in 
ihe  had  been 
>cplained  her 

e  whale,  seal 

)f  the  Arctic. 

y  than  rein- 

id  succulent. 


i'There  is  one  peculiarity  about  its  flesh — in  order  to  have 
!|it  in  perfection  it  must  be'  eaten  very  soon  after  being 
killed  ;  the  sooner  the  better,  for  it  deteriorates  in  flavor 
the  longer  it  is  kept.  Indeed,  the  Eskimo  do  not  wait  for 
the  animal  heat  to  leave  the  carcass,  as  they  eat  the  brains 
jind  paunch  hot  and  smoking. 

While  our  gastronomic  enthusiasm  did  not  extend  this 
far,  we  dined  occasionally  on  fresh  trout  from  a  Siberian 
mountain  lake,  young  wild  ducks  as  fat  as  squabs,  and 
reindeer,  any  of  which  delicacies  could  not  be  had  in  the 
same  perfection  at  Delmonico's  or  any  similar  establish- 
n'.ent  in  New  York  for  love  or  money.  There  is  scarcely 
any  better  eating  in  the  way  of  flsli  than  cortijonna — a  new 
species  discovered  at  Point  Barrow  by  the  Co:  win — and 
'  certainly  no  more  dainty  game  exists  than  the  young  wild 
geese  and  ptarmigan  to  be  found  in  countless  numbers  in 
Hotham  inlet.  At  the  latter  place,  doubtless  the  warmest 
inside  the  straits,  are  found  quantities  of  cranberries  about 
the  size  of  a  pea,  which  not  only  make  a  delicious  acces- 
sory to  roasted  goose,  but  act  as  a  valuable  antiscorbutic. 
These  berries  and  a  kind  of  kelp,  which  I  have  seen 
Eskimo  eating  at  Tapkan,  Siberia,  seem  to  be  the  only  veg- 
etable food  they  have.  The  large  quantities  of  eggs  easily 
procurable,  but  in  most  cases  doubtful,  also  constitute  a 
standard  article  of  diet  among  these  people,  who  have  no 
scruples  about  eating  them  partly  hatched.  They  seemed 
never  to  comprehend  our  fastidiousness  in  the  matter  and 
why  our  tastes  differed  so  much  from  theirs  in  this  respect. 
They  will  break  an  egg  containing  an  embryonic  duck  or 
goose,  extract  the  bii'd  by  one  leg  and  devour  it  with  all 
the  relish  of  an  epicure.  Gull's  eggs,  however,  are  in  dis- 
repute among  them,  for  the  women — who,  by  the  way, 


„-!:a 


i       I 


192     First  Lanfling  on  Wraiufd  Isla>i(7,  with  some 

liave  the  same  fi'ailties  and  weaknesses  as  tlieir  more  civil- 
ized sisters— believe  that  eatini?  ^-idl's  eggs  causes  loss  of 
beauty  and  brings  on  early  decrepitude.  The  men,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  fond  of  seal  eyes,  a  tid-bit  which  the 
women  believe  increases  their  amorousness,  and  feed  to 
their  lords  after  the  manner  o'i  "Open  your  mouth  and 
shut  yjur  eyes." 

(lame  is,  as  a  rule,  very  tame,  and  during  the  moulting 
season,  when  the  geese  are  unable  to  tly,  it  is  quite  possi- 
ble to  kill  them  with  a  stick.  At  one  place,  Cape  Thomp- 
son, Eskimo  were  seen  catching  birds  from  a  high  clilf  with 
a  kind  of  scoop-net,  and  I  saw  birds  at  Herald  island 
refuse  to  move  when  pelted  with  stones,  so  unaccustomed 
were  they  to  the  presence  of  man.  In  addition  to  being 
very  tame,  game  is  plentiful,  and  it  is  not  uncommon, 
oif  the  Siberian  coast,  to  see  flocks  of  eider  ducks  dark- 
ening the  air  and  occupying  several  hours  in  passing  over- 
head. It  was  novel  sport  to  see  the  natives  throw  a  pro- 
jectile known  as  an  "apluketat"  into  (me  of  these  flocks 
with  astonisliing  range  and  accuracy.  l)ringing  down  the 
game  with  the  effectiveness  of  a  shotgun. 

Game  keeps  so  well  in  the  Ai-ctic  that  an  instance  is 
known  of  its  being  perfectly  sweet  and  sound  on  an  Kng- 
lish  sliip  after  two  years'  keeping,  and  whalemen  kill  a 
number  of  pigs,  which  they  hang  in  the  rigging  and  kee]) 
for  use  during  the  cruise.  It  is  also  noticeable  that  leather 
articles  do  not  nuldew  as  they  generally  do  at  sea,  some 
shoes  kept  in  a  locker  on  board  the  (Jonoin  having  retained 
their  polisii  during  the  entire  cruise. 

The  food  of  the  Eskimo  satisfies  tlieir  instinctive  craving 
for  a  hydrocarbon,  but  they  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
much  disturbed  or  distracted  in  its  preparation,  as  most  of 


some 


Remnrl's  on  the  Northeni  Inhabitants. 


193 


more  civil- 
ises loss  of 
len,  on  the 
which  the 
nd  feed  to 
Tioiith  and 

;  moultinu- 
[uite  possi- 
pe  Thonip- 
h  cliff  with 
ahl  island 
Lccustomed 
^n  to  being 
mconiiuon, 
licks  dark- 
ssing  over- 
irow  a  pro- 
lese  Hocks 
down  the 

instance  is 
on  an  Eng- 
nen  kill  a 
and  kee]) 
hat  leather 


sea,  some 
ig  retained 


ive  craving 

elves  to  be 

as  most  of 


it  is  eaten  raw.  They  occasionally  boil  their  food,  how- 
[ever,  and  sv)me  of  them  have  learned  the  use  of  Hour  and 
[molasses,  of  which  they  are  very  fond. 

Their  aversion  to  salt  is  a  very  marked  peculiarity,  and 
[they  will  not  eat  either  corned  beef  or  pork  on  this  account. 
[It  may  be  that  physiological  reasons  exist  for  this  dislike. 

SOCIAL    AM)    DOMESTIC    HELATIOXS. 

Omitting  other  ethnograi)hic  facts  relative  to  the  Eslvimo, 
which  might  be  treated  in  a  systematic  way  except  for  tlieii' 
triteness,  we  pass  from  the  means  of  the  renewal  of  the 
animal  economy  to  its  reproduction.  Courtship  and  mar- 
riage, which,  it  is  said,  are  conducted  in  the  most  unsenti- 
mental manner  possible,  are  for  that  reason  not  to  be  dis- 

[ cussed ;   and  for  obvious  reasons  many   of  the  prenatal 

'conditions  cannot  here  be  dwelt  upon.  Having  never  wit- 
nessed the  act  of  parturition  in  an  Eskimo  my  knowledge 
of  the  subject  is  merely  second-hand,  and  consequently  not 
worth  detailing.  It  appears,  though,  that  parturition  is  a 
function  easily  i)erformed  among  them,  and  that  it  is  un- 
attended by  the  post-partum  accidents  common  to  civiliza- 
tion.    As  a  i-ule  the  wf)men  are  unprolitic,  it  being  uncom- 

[mon  to  find  a  family  numbering  over  three  children,  and 
the  mortality  among  the  new-born  is  excessive,  owing  to 

[the  ignorance  and  neglect  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  hygiene. 

JThey  seem,  however,  to  be  kind  to  their  children,  who  in 
respect  to  crying  do  not  show  the  same  peevishness  as  seen 
in  our  nurseries  ;  indeed,  the  so(?ial  and  demonstrative  .good 
natui'f;  of  the  race  seems  to  crop  out  even  in  babyhood,  as 

\\  have  often  witnessed  undei'  such  circumstances  as  a  baby 
enveloped  in  furs  in  a  skin  canoe  which  lay  along  side  the 
shij)  during  a  snowstorm ;  its  tiny  hands  protruding  held 


I'. 


i 

i 


V 


194     First  LandiiHj  on  WnDujd  Mmtd,  with  some 

a  piece  of  blubber,  which  it  sucked  with  apparent  relish, 
tlie  unique  pictr  v"  of  happy  contentment.  It  was  quick  to 
feel  itself  an  object  of  attraction,  and  its  chubby  face 
returne(i  any  number  of  smiles  of  recognition. 

The  manner  of  carryinj,^  the  infant  is  contrary  to  that  of 
civilized  custom.  It  is  borne  on  the  back  under  the  clothes 
of  the  mother,  which  form  a  pouch,  and  from  which  its 
tiny  head  is  f^enerally  visible  over  one  or  the  other  shoulder, 
but  on  being  observed  by  strangers  it  shrinks  like  a  snail 
or  a  marsupian  into  its  snug  retreat.  When  the  mother 
wants  to  remove  it  she  bends  forward,  at  the  same  time 
passing  her  left  hand  up  the  back  under  her  garments,  and 
seizing  the  child  by  the  feet,  pulls  it  downward  to  the  left ; 
then,  passing  the  right  hand  under  the  front  of  the  dress, 
she  again  seizes  the  feet  and  extracts  it  by  a  kind  of  podalic 
delivery.  Another  common  way  of  carrying  children  is 
astride  the  neck.  The  subject  is  one  that  the  Chucki  artist 
often  carves  in  ivory. 

The  play  impulse  manifests  itself  among  these  people  in 
various  ways.  They  have  such  mimetic  objects  as  dolls, 
miniature  boats,  etc.  I  have  seen  a  group  of  boys,  sailing 
toy  boats  in  a  pond,  behave  under  the  circumstances  just 
as  a  similar  group  has  been  observed  to  do  at  Province- 
town,  Cape  Cod,  and  the  same  act.  as  performed  in  the 
Frog  Pond  of  the  Boston  Common,  may  be  called  only  a 
differentiated  form  of  the  same  tendency.  Their  dolls,  of 
ivory  and  clothed  with  fur,  seem  to  answer  the  same  pur- 
pose that  they  do  in  civilized  communities— namely,  the 
amusement  of  little  girls— for  at  one  place  where  we  landed 
a  number  of  Eskimo  girls,  stopping  play  on  our  approach, 
sat  their  dolls  up  in  a  row,  evidently  with  a  view  to  giving 
the  dolls  a  better  look  at  the  strange  visitors.     Spinning 


li  some 


liemarks  on  the  Xoitheni  Inh  ah  Hants. 


19r) 


arent  relisli, 
was  quick  to 
cliubby   face 

ry  to  that  of 
r  the  clothes 
)m  which  its 
ler  sliouldei-. 
s  like  a  snail 
I  the  mother 
le  same  time 
arments,  and 
d  to  the  left ; 
of  the  dress, 
nd  of  podalic 
i,  children  is 
Chucki  artist 

ese  people  in 

icts  as  dolls, 

boys,  sailing 

iistances  just 

at  Province - 

rmed  in  the 

•ailed  only  a 

leir  dolls,  of 

he  same  pur- 

namely,  the 

re  we  landed 

Lir  approach, 

ew  to  giving 

Spinning 


tops,  essentially  Eskimo  and  unique  in  their  character,  are 
held  in  the  hand  while  spinning ;  on  the  Siberian  coast  foot- 
mil    is    played,    and    among    other    questionable    things 
icquired  from  contact  with  the  whalemen,  a  knowledge  of 
card-playing  exists.     We  were  very  often  asked  for  cards, 
iind  at  one  place  where  we  stopped  and  bartered  a  number 
)f  small  articles  with  the  natives  they  gave  evidence  of 
Itheir  aptitude  at  gaming.     The  game  being  started,  with 
|the  bartered  articles  as  stakes,  one  fellow  soon  scooped  in 
everything,  leaving  the  others  to  go  off  dead-broke,  amid 
Ithe  ridicule  of  some  of  <nir  crew,  and  doubtless  feeling 
tworse  than  dead,  for  anumg  no  people  that  I  have  seen, 
[not  even  the  Fiencli,  does  ridicule  so  eflFectually  kill. 

PERSONAL  ornamj:ntation. 

Among  tiie  means  taken  by  these  people  to  produce  per- 
sonal ornamentation  that  of  tattooing  the  face  and  wearing 
la.  labret  is  the  most  noticeable.  The  custom  of  tattooing 
having  existed  from  the  earliest  historical  epochs  is  import- 
iint,  not  only  from  an  ethnological  but  from  a  medical  and 
l)athological  point  of  view,  and  even  in  its  relation  to 
medical  jurisprudence  in  cases  of  contested  personal  iden- 
tity. 

Without  going  into  the  history  of  the  subject,  it  may  nc, 
|be  irrelevant  to  mention  that  tattooing  was  condemned  by 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  Tertullian,  among  others,  who 
gives  the  following  rather  singular  reason  for  interdicting 
its  use  among  women:  "Certi  sumus  Spiritum  Sanctum 
luagis  masculis  tale  aliquid  subscribere  potuisse  si  feminis 
subscripsisset."  * 

In  addition  to  much  that  has  been  written  by  French  and 

*De  Virginibus  velandis.     Lutetiie  Parisiorum,  1675  f  .,  p.  178. 


; 


ill 


1S>C      Fhfit  Landifif/  on  Wranffd  Island,  with  some, 

(temian  writers,  the  luntter  of  tsittoo-injirks  has  of  lute 
(•laiined  the  attention  of  the  law  courts  of  En<i'lan(l,  the 
Chief-Justice,  Cockburn,  in  the  Tichhoui'ne  case,  having 
described  this  s])ecies  of  evidence  as  of  '"vital  ini])oitance," 
and  in  itself  iinal  and  conclusive.  The  absence  of  thn  tattoo- 
marks  in  this  case  justified  the  jury  in  tlu>ir  tlndin<;  that 
the  defenthint  Avas  not  and  could  not  be  Ro.ii'er  Tichbourne, 
>vhei"eupon  the  alleged  clainumt  was  jn-oved  to  be  an  inipos- 


i     i; 


li    ! 


Style  of  personal  ornamentation  adopted  l)y  the  women  of  Saint  Lawrence 

island. 


11 


Reiiiarks  on  the  Northern  fiihat)ltants. 


197 


tor,  found  guilty  of  perjury,  iind  Mentenced  to  penal  seivi- 
tude.* 

Why  the  ancient  habit  of  tattooing  should  prevail  so  ex- 
tensively among'  some  of  the  primitive  tribes  as  it  does,  for 
instance,  in  the  Polynesian  islands  and  some  parts  of  .Iai)an, 
and  we  nuiy  say  as  a  survival  of  a  su])erstitious  practice 
of  paganism  among  sailors  and  others,  is  a  ])sycliolog- 
i<'al  prol)lem  difficult  to  solve.  Whether  it  l)e  owing  to 
perversi(m  of  the  sexual  instinct,  which  is  not  unlikely,  or 
to  other  cause,  it  is  not  proposed  to  discuss.  Be  that  as  it 
nuiy,  the  prevalence  of  the  habit  among  the  Eskimo  is  con- 
fined to  the  female  sex,  who  are  tattooed  on  arriving  at  the 
age  of  puberty.  The  women  of  Saint  Lawience  island,  in 
addition  to  lines  on  the  nose,  forehead  and  chin,  have  uni- 
formly a  Kgure  of  strange  design  on  the  cheeks,  which  is 
stiggestive  of  cabalistic  import.  It  could  not  be  ascertaineil, 
liowever,  whether  such  is  the  case.  The  lines  drawn  on 
the  chin  were  exactly  like  the  ones  I  have  seen  on  Moorish 
women  in  Morocco.  Another  outlandish  attempt  at  adorn- 
ment was  witnessed  at  Cape  Blossom  in  a  wcmian  who  wore 
a  bunch  of  colored  beads  suspended  from  the  septum  of 
her  nose.  These  habits,  however,  hardly  seem  so  revolting 
as  the  use  of  the  labret  by  the  ''Mazinka"  men  on  the 
American  (X)ast,  of  whom  it  is  related  that  a  sailor  seeing 
one  of  them  for  the  first  time,  and  observing  the  slit  in  the 
lower  lip  through  which  the  native  thrust  his  tongue, 
thought  he  had  discovered  a  man  with  two  mouths.  The 
use  of  the  labret,  like  many  of  the  attempts  at  primitive 
oi-na mentation,  is  very  old,  its  use  having  been  traced^  l)y 
Dall  along  the  American  coast  from  the  lower  part  of  Chili 

*Sec!  Guy's  Hospital  Report.  XIX,  1874  ;  also  "  llistoiru  MhUcuIc  (hi  Tatou- 
age,"  in  Ardiives  de  Mwiecine  Navale,  Tom.  11  and  12,  Paris,  lS(i!). 


OH      First  LandiiKj  on  WntiKjrJ  Jshnnl.  irUli  st.nic 


to  Alaska.  Persons  fond  of  tijicinii-  vt'sriijes  of  savage 
ornamentation  amid  intellectual  advancement  and  aesthetic 
sensibility  far  in  advance  of  the  i)rimitive  man,  may  observe 
in  the  wearers  of  l)angles  and  earrings  tlie  same  tendency 
existing  in  a  differentiated  form. 


oi 

ai 

SI 


DIVKKSIONS. 

I  doubt  whether  Sliakesi)eare's  dictum  in  regard  to  music 
hohls  good  when  a])])]ied  to  the  Eskimo,  for  they  have  but 
little  music  in  their  souls,  and  anumg  no  ])eoi)le  is  there 
such  a  noticeable  absence  of  "  treason,  stratagem  and  spoil." 
A  rude  drum  and  a  monotonous  chant,  consisting  onlv  of 
the  fundamental  note  and  minor  third,  are  the  on^  .lings 
in  the  way  of  music  among  the  more  remote  se*^  ^ments  of 
which  I  have  any  knowledge.  Mrs.  Ml  .^oer's  singing 
has  been  described  as  the  table-beer  of  acoustics.  Piskimo 
singing  is  something  more.  The  beer  has  become  fiat  by 
the  addition  of  ice.  One  of  our  engineers,  who  is  quite  a 
tiddler,  experimented  on  his  instrument  with  a  view  to 
seeing  what  effect  music  would  have  on  the  "savage  breast," 
but  his  best  efforts  at  rendering  "  Madame  Angot  "  Jind 
the  "  (Irande  Duchesse  "  were  wasted  before  an  unsym- 
pathetic audience,  who  showed  as  little  appreciation  of  his 
performance  as  some  people  do  when  listening  to  Wagner's 
"  Music  of  the  Future." 

Where  they  have  come  in  contact  with  civilization  their 
musical  taste  is  more  developed.  At  Saint  Michael's  I  was 
told  that  some  of  their  songs  are  so  characteristic  that  it  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  some  of  them  cannot  be  bottled 
up  in  a  phonograph  and  sent  to  a  musical  composer.  On 
the  coast  of  Siberia  I  heard  an  Eskimo  boy  sing  correctly  a 
song  he  had  learned  while  on  board  a  whaling  vessel,  and 


B 


Hi-m(irlk.s  on  thv  Xinil,rni  lnhuhHant>i. 


199 


on  .several  of  the  Aleiilian  islands  the  natives  phiy  the 
aceordeon  quite  well ;  have  nmsic-boxes,  and  even  whistle 
strains  from  "  Pinafore." 

From  music  to  dancinj?  the  transition  is  obvious,  no  mat- 
ter whether  the  latter  be  regarded  in  a  Darwinian  sense  as 
a  device  to  attract  the  opjjosite  sex  or  as  the  expression  of 
joyous  excitement.      This  nuinifestation  of  feeling  in  its 
bodily   discharge,    which    Moses  and   Miriam   and    David 
ind,ulged  in,  which  is  ranked  with  poetry  l)y  Aristotle,  and 
^hich  old  Homer  says  is  the  sweetest  and  most  perfect  of 
human  enjoyments,  is  a  pastime  much  in  vogue  among  the 
Eskimo,  and  it  required  but  little  provocation  to  start  a 
dance  at  any  time  on  the  Corwlri'  s  decks  when  a  party 
happened  to  be  on  board.     Tlie  dancing,  however,  had  not 
the  cadence  of  "a  wave  of  the  sea,"  nor  was  there  the  har- 
mony of  double  rotation  circling  in  a  series  of  graceful 
curves  to  strains  like  those  of  Stranss  or  (lungl.     On  the 
contrary,  there  was  something  saltatoriiil  and  jerky  about 
all  the  dancing  I  saw  ])oth  among  the  men  and  women.     It 
is  the  custom  at  some  of  their  gatherings,  after  the  liunting 
season  is  over,  for  the  men  to  indulge  in  a  kind  of  terpsi- 
chorean  performance,  at  the  same  time  relating  in  Homeric 
style  the  heroic  deeds  they  have  done.     At  other  times  the 
\^-onien  do  all  the  dancing.     Being  stripped   to  the  waist 
they  are  more  d'cvollet'c  than  our  beauties  at  tlie  German, 
and  the  men  take  the  part  of  spectators  only  in  this  chore- 
graphical  perfonnance. 

ART  INSTINCT. 

The  aptitude  shown  by  Eskimo  in  carving  and  drawing 
has  been  noticed  by  all  travellers  among  them.  Some  I 
have  met  with  show  a  degree  of  intelligence  and  apprecia- 
tion in  regard  to  charts  and  pictures  scarcely  to  be  expected 
from  such  a  source.     Prom  walrus  ivory  they  sculpture 


200     First  Landing  on  Wrangcl  Island,  with  some 


figures  of  birds,  quadrupeds,  marine  animals,  and  even  the 
human  form,  which  display  considerable  individuality  not- 
withstanding- their  crude  delineation  and  imperfect  detail. 
I  have  also  seen  a  fair  carving  of  a  whale  in  plumbago. 
Evidences  of  decoration  are  sometimes  seen  on  their  canoes, 
on  which  are  found  rude  pictures  of  walruses,  etc.,  and 
they  have  a  kind  of  picture-writing,  l)y  means  of  which 
they  commemorate  certain  events  in  their  lives,  just  as 
Sitting  Bull  has  done  in  an  autobiography  that  nuiy  be 
seen  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum. 

When  we  were  searching  for  the  missing  whalers  oif  the 
Sibei'ian  coast,  some  natives  were  come  across  with  whom 
we  were  unable  to  communicate  excej)t  by  signs,  and  wish- 
ing to  let  them  know  the  object  of  our  visit,  a  shij)  was 
drawn  in  a  note-book  and  shown  to  them,  with  ac(  cmipany- 
ing  gesticulations,  which  they  quickly  comprehended,  and 
one  fellow,  taking  the  pencil  and  note-book,  drevv  correctly 
a  pair  of  reindeer  horns  on  the  ship's  jib-boom— a  fact 
which  identified,  l)evond  doubt,  the  derelict  vessel   thev 

•  •  •^ 

had  seen.  At  Point  Hope  an  Eskimo,  who  had  allowed  us 
to  take  sketches  of  him,  desired  to  sketch  one  of  the  party, 
and  taking  one  of  our  note-books  and  a  pencil,  neither  of 
which  he  ever  had  in  his  hand  l)efore,  produced  the  accom- 
panying likeness  of  Professor  Muii- : 


«p 


Remarks  mi  the  Northern.  Inhabitants. 


201 


At  Saint  Michael's  there  is  an  Eskimo  boy  who  draws 
remarkably  well,  having  taught  himself  by  copying  from 
the  Illustrated  London  News.  He  made  a  correct  pen- 
and-ink  drawing  of  the  C'oriPm,  and  another  of  the  group 
of  buildings  at  Saint  Michael's,  which,  though  creditable 
in  many  respects,  had  the  defect  of  many  Chinese  pictures, 
being  faulty  in  perspective.  As  these  drawings  equal 
those  in  Dr.  Rink's  book,  done  by  Greenland  artists,  I 
regret  my  inability  to  reproduce  them  here.  As  evidences 
of  culture  they  show  more  advancement  than  the  carv- 
ings of  English  rustics  that  a  clergyman  has  caused  to  be 
placed  on  exhibition  at  the  Kensington  Museum. 

Sir  John  Ross  speaks  highly  of  his  interpretei-  as  an 
artist ;  Beechy  says  that  the  knowledge  of  the  coast 
obtained  by  him  from  Innuit  maps  was  of  the  greatest 
value,  while  Hall  apd  others  show  their  geographical 
knowledge  to  be  as  perfect  as  that  possible  of  attainment 
by  civilized  men  unaided  by  instruments.  I  had  frequent 
opportunities  to  observe  these  Eskimo  ideas  of  charto- 
graphy.  They  not  only  understood  reading  a  chart  of  the 
coast  when  showed  to  them,  but  would  make  tracings  of 
the  unexplored  part,  as  I  knew  a  native  to  do  in  the  case 
of  an  Alaskan  river,  the  mouth  only  of  which  was  laid 
down  on  our  chart. 

Manifestation  of  the  plastic  art,  which  is  found  among 
tribes  less  intelligent,  is  rare  among  the  Eskimo.  In  fact, 
the  only  thing  of  the  kind  seen  was  some  rude  pottery 
at  Saint  Lawrence  inland,  the  design  of  which  showed  but 
(uude  deveiopmeni  of  ornamental  ideas.  The  same  state 
of  advancement  was  sliov/n  in  some  drinking  cups  carved 
from  nuimmoth  ivory  and  Ji  dipper  made  from  the  horn  of 
a  mountain  sheep. 


'ti{ 


202      F/'/:sf  Landing  on  Wrangel  Mand,  icith  some 


w 


COMHATIVENESS. 

In  one  of  the  acts  of  Syiakespeare's  "Seven  Ages"  the 
Kiskimo  plays  a  very  unimportant  role.  Perhaps  in  no 
other  race  is  the  combative  instinct  less  predominant;  in 
none  is  quarrelling,  fierceness  of  disposition,  and  jealousy 
more  conspicuously  absent,  and  in  none  does  the  desire 
for  the  factitious  renoAvn  of  war  exist  in  a  n  re  rudi- 
mentary and  undeveloped  state.  Perhaps  the  constant 
tight  with  cold  and  hunger  is  a  compensation  which  must 
account  for  the  absence  of  such  unmitigated  evils  as  war, 
taxes,  complex  social  organization  and  hierarchy  among 
the  curious  people  of  the  icy  north.  The  pursuits  of  peace 
and  of  simple  patriarchal  lives,  notwithstanding  the  faci 
of  much  in  connection  therewith  that  is  wretched  and  for- 
bidding to  a  civilized  man,  seem  to  beget  in  these  people  a 
degree  of  domestic  tranquility  and  contentment  whici; 
united  to  their  light-hearted  and  cheery  disposition,  is  an 
additional  reason  for  believing  the  sum  of  human  liappi- 
ness  to  be  constant  thioughout  the  world. 


v; 


MENTAL   CHAKACTEK   AND  CAPACITY. 

The  intellectual  character  of  tlie  Eskimo,  judging  from 
the  infonnation  which  various  travellers  have  furnished,  as 
well  as  my  personal  knowledge,  produces  more  than  a 
feeble  belief  in  the  possibility  of  their  being  equal  to  any- 
thing they  choose  to  take  an  interest  in  learning.  The 
Eskimo  is  not  "muffled  imbecility,"  as  some  one  has  called 
him,  nor  is  he  dull  and  slow  of  understanding,  as  Vitruvius 
describes  the  northern  nation  to  be  "from  breathing  a  thick 
air"— which,  by  the  way,  is  thin,  elastic  and  highly  ozon- 
ized—nor is  he,  according  to  Dr.  Beke,  "degenerated 
almost  to  the  lowest  state  compatible  with  the  retention  of 


I 


ReifiarkH  on  tin-  Northeni  InJiabitanis. 


203 


rational  endowments."  On  the  contrary,  the  old  Green- 
land  missionary,  Hans  Egede,  writes  :  "  I  have  found  some 
of  them  witty  enough  and  of  good  capacity  ;"  Sir  Martin 
Frobisher  says  they  are  "in  nature  very  subtle  and  sharp- 
witted  ;"  Sir  Edward  Parry,  while  extolling  their  honesty 
and  good  nature,  adds,  "Indeed,  it  rec^uired  no  long 
acquaintance  to  convince  us  that  art  and  education  might 
easily  have  made  them  equal  or  superior  to  ourselves;" 
Saner  tells  of  a  woman  who  learned  to  speak  Russian 
fluently  in  rather  less  than  twelve  months,  and  Beechy  and 
others  have  acknowledged  the  intelligent  help  they  have 
received  from  Eskimo  in  making  their  explorations. 

Before  going  further,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  speak  in  a 
general  way  of  the  bony  covering  which  protects  the  organ 
whose  function  it  is  to  generate  the  vibrations  known  as 
thought.  Of  one  hundred  crania,  collected  principally  at 
Saint  Lawrence  island,  a  number  were  examined  by  me  at 
the  Army  Medical  Museum,  through  the  covrtesy  of  Dr. 
Huntington,  with  the  result  of  changing  and  greatly  modi- 
fying some  of  the  previous  notions  of  the  convenMonal 
Eskimo  skull  as  acquired  from  books  on  craniology.  Per- 
haps after  the  inspection  and  examination  of  a  large  collec- 
tion of  crania,  it  may  be  safe  to  pronounce  upon  their 
differential  character  ;  but  whether  the  diiferences  in  con- 
figuration are  constant  or  only  occasional  manifestations, 
julmits  of  as  much  doubt  as  the  exceptions  in  Professor 
S'.p"t  ocles's  Greek  gramnuir,  which  are  often  coextensive 
v'■^  1  the  rule.* 

'!'he  typical  Eskimo  skull,  according  to  popular  notion, 
!  o^^^  ^'xhibiting  a  low  order  of  intelligence,  and  character- 
i/jd  by  small  brain  capacity,  with  great  prominence  of  the 


•Retzins,  Finska  Krauicr,  Stockholm:  187S. 


II 


204      Mr.'ii  Landing  on  Wrangel  Island,  icith  some 

superciliary  ridges,  occipital  protuberaace  and  zygomatic 
arches,  the  latter  projecting  beyond  the  general  contour  of 
the  skull  like  the  handles  of  a  jar  or  a  peach  basket ;  and 
lines  drawn  from  the  most  projecting  part  of  the  arches 
and  touching  the  sides  of  the  frontal  bone  are  supposed  to 
meet  over  the  forehead,  forming  a  triangle,  for  which  reason 
the  skull  is  known  as  pyramidal. 

The  first  specimen,  examined  from  a  vertical  view,  shows 
something  of  the  typical  character  as  figured  in  A,  and 
when  viewed  posteriorly  there  is  noticed  a  flattening  of  the 
parietal  walls  with  an  elongated  vertex  as  shown  in  D ; 
while  a  second  specimen,  r  presented  by  B,  shows  none 
of  the  foregoing  characteristics,  the  foiin  being  elongated 
and  the  ;.  ^ii«^tal  walls  so  far  overhanging  as  to  conceal 
the  zygomp  ches  in  the  vertical  view,  so  that  if  lines 

be  drawn  as  ]..,jviously  mentioned,  instead  of  foiming  a 
triangle  they  may,  like  the  asymptotes  of  a  parabola,  be 
extended  to  infinity  and  never  meet : 

For  purposes  of  comparison  a  number  of  orthographic 
outlines,  showing  the  contour  of  civilized  crania,  from  a 
vertical  point  of  observation,  are  herewith  annexed.  No.  1 
is  that  of  an  eminent  mathematician  who  committed  sui- 
cide ;  No.  2,  a  prominent  politician  during  the  civil  war ; 
No.  3,  a  banker ;  and  No.  4,  a  notorious  assassin.  Nos.  f) 
and  6  are  negro  skulls.  Further  comparison  may  be  made 
with  the  Jewish  skull,  as  represented  in  No.  7,  in  which 
the  nasal  bones  project  so  far  beyond  the  general  contour 
as  to  form  a  bird-like  appendage. 

A  collection  of  Aleutian  heads,  as  seen  from  a  vertical 
point  of  observation,  when  T  looked  down  from  the  gallery 
of  the  little  Greek  church  at  Ounalaska,  presented  at  first 


\\  ' 


li   I 


Remarks  on  the  Northern  Inhabitants. 


205 


I 


20(5 


^-7;-.s7  Lnndhui  on  Wmitnd  Island  with  some 


\ 


I  ■'' 


--f'"-   "^    /-^^^.A/V^ 


mm 


nBRRn^nnRR 


ill 


Jiemarks  on  the  Northern  hilmtntant.s 


207 


I 


jvo.or. 


JVo.4. 


certain  collective  characters  by  which  they  approach  one 
another.  But  anatomists  know  that  a  careful  comparison 
of  any  collection  will  show  extremely  salient  differences. 
In  fact,  individual  differences,  so  numerous  and  so  irreg- 
ular as  to  prevent  methodical  enumeration,  constitute  the 
stumbling-block  of  ethnic  craniology.  Take,  for  instance, 
a  number  of  the  skulls  under  consideration  :  in  proportions 
they  will  be  found  to  present  very  considerable  variations 
among  themselves.  The  skulls  figured  by  A  and  B  are 
respectively  brachycephalic  and  dolichocephalic.  The 
former  has  an  internal  capacity  of  1,400,  the  latter  1,214 
cubic  centimeters  ;  but  the  facial  angle  of  each  is  80",  and 
in  one  Eskimo  cranium  it  runs  up  to  84°.     If  the  facial 


208      First  Landing  on  Wrangel  Island,  with  some 


h^- 


angle  be  trustworthy,  an  a  measure  of  the  degree  of  intelli- 
gence, we  have  shown  here  a  development  far  in  excess  of 
the  negro,  which  is  j^laced  at  70',  or  of  the  Mongolian  at 
75%  and  exceeding  that  observed  by  me  in  nuiny  German 
skulls,  which  do  not.  as  a  rule,  come  up  to  the  'iW  of  Jupi- 
ter Tonans  or  of  C/Uvier,  in  spite  of  the  boasted  intelligence 
of  that  nationality. 

In  none  of  the  skulls  of  the  collection  is  there  observable 
the  heavy  superciliary  ridges  alleged  to  be  common  in 
lower  races,  but  which  exist  in  many  of  the  best-formed 


1 

Ol 

t 

H 

<>| 

a] 

sa 

'j{ 

n 


JVo.  J. 


jvo.e. 


t< 


Remarks  on  the  Norther n  InliaUtantn.  2'X> 

European  crania— shall  we  say  as  anomalies  or  as  individ- 
ual variations  *.  Nor  is  the  convexity  of  the  squanio- 
parietal  suture  such  as  characterizes  the  low-typed  cranium 
of  the  chimpanzee  or  the  Mound  Builder.  On  the  contrary, 
tlie  orbits  are  cleanly  made  and  the  suture  is  well  curved. 
Besides,  a  low  degree  of  intelligence  is  not  shown  by 
observing  the  index  of  the  foramen  magnum,  which  is 
about  the  same  as  that  found  in  Phiropean  crania  ;  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  internal  capacity  of  the  cranium. 
To  illustrate  the  latter  renuirk  is  appended  a  tabular  state- 
ment made  up  from  Welcker,  Broca,  Aitken  and  Meigs : 

Cubic  rcntimeterB. 

Australian 1,328 

Polynesian 1,280 

Hottentot 1,230 

Mexican 1,2J)(( 

Malay 1,328 

Ancient  Peruvian 1,301 

French 1,403  to  1,4(U 

German 1,448 

Knglish 1,.j72 

An  average  of  the  Eskimo  skull,  some  of  which  measure 
as  much  as  1,6{")()  and  1,715  c.  c.,  will  show  the  brain  capaci- 
ity  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  French  or  of  the  (lermans. 
None  of  them,  however,  ajjproaches  the  anonuilous  capaci- 
ties of  two  Indian  skulls  on  exhibition  at  the  Army  Med- 
ical Museum,  one  of  which  shows  1,785  c.  c,  and  the  other 
the  unprecedented  measurement  of  1,920  c.  c. 

If  the  foregoing  means  for  estimating  the  mental  grasj) 
and  capacity  for  imi)rovement  be  correct,  then  we  must 
accord  to  the  iiu)st  northern  nation   of  the  globe  a  fair 


210      First  Land'nui  on  Wniitf/rl  Tshtiid,  with  sitnt^' 


degree  of  brain  energy — potential  though  it  be.  Aside 
from  tlie  mere  i)hysical  metliods  of  detemiining  the  degree 
of  intelligence,  it  is  urged  l)y  some  w  liters,  among  them 
the  historian  Robertson,  that  tact  in  commerce  and  correct 
ideas  of  property  are  evidence  of  a  considerable  progress 
toward  civilization.  The  natural  inference  from  this  is  that 
they  are  tests  of  intellectual  power,  since  mind  is  a  combin- 
ation of  all  the  actual  and  possible  states  of  consciousness 
of  the  organism,  and  an  examination  of  the  Eskimo  system 
of  trade  draws  its  own  conclusion.  Their  fondness  for 
trade  has  been  known  for  a  long  time,  as  well  as  the 
extended  range  of  their  commercial  intercourse.  They 
trade  with  the  Indians,  with  the  fur  companies,  the  whalers 
and  among  themselves  across  Bering  straits.  Many  of 
them  are  veritable  Shylocks,  having  a  through  comprehen- 
sion of  the  axiom  in  political  economy  regarding  the  regu- 
lation of  the  price  of  a  thing  by  the  demand. 


Reiiiarhs  on  the  JS^orthcrn  Tih  ^bilants. 


211 


igree 

hem 

•reot 

;ress 

that 

bin- 

Qess 

tern 

for 

the 

hey 

ers 

of 

len- 

igu- 


TIIK    MOUAL   SKXSE   AND   TIIK   KELIOroi'S    INSTINCT. 

AVith  tlie  aptitudes  and  instincts  of  our  common  human- 
ity Eskimo  morals,  as  manifested  in  trutli,  right  and  vir- 
tue, also  admit  of  remark.     Except  where  these  people  have 
had  the  bad  example  of  the  white  man,  whose  vices  they 
have  imitated,  not  on  account  of  defective  moral  nature, 
but  because  they  saw  few  or  no  virtues,  they  are  models  of 
truthfulness  and  honesty.     In  fact  their  virtues  in  this  re- 
spect are  something  phenomenal.     The  same  cannot  be  said, 
however,  for  their  sexual  morals,  which,  as  a  rule,  are  the 
contrary  of  good.      Even  a  short  stay  among  the  hyperbore- 
ans causes  one  to  smile  at  Lord  Kames's  "frigidity  of  the 
North  Americans,"  and  at  the  fallacy  of  Herder  who  says, 
' '  the  blood  of  man  near  the  pole  circulates  but  slowly,  the 
heart  beats  but  languidly  ;  consequently  the  married  live 
chastely,  the  women  almost  require  compidsion  to  take  upon 
them  the  troubles  of  a  married  life,"  etc.     Nearly  the  same 
idea  expressed  by  Montesquieu,  and  repeated  by  Byron  in 
*' happy  the  nations  of  the  moral  North,"  are  statements 
so  at  variance  with  our  experience  that  this  fact  must  alone 
excuse  a  reference  to  the  subject.     So  far  are  they  from 
applying  to  the  people  in  question  that  it  is  only  necessary 
to  mention,  without  going  into  detail,  that  the  women  are 
freely  offered  to  strangers  by  way  of  hospitality,  showing 
a  decided  j^reference  for  white  men,  whom  they  believe  to 
beget  better  offspring  than  their  own  men.     In  this  regard 
one  is  soon  convinced  that  salacious  and  prurient  tastes  are 
not  the  exclusive  privilege  of  people  living  outside  of  the 
Arctic  Circle ;    and  observation  favors   the  belief  in  the 
existence  of    pederasty   among    Eskimo,   if  one  may  be 
allowed  to  judge  from  circumstances,  which  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  particularize,  and  from  a  word  in  their  language 
signifying  the  act. 


212      First  Landinq  on  Wraiujd  Island,  tcHh  some 


Since  morality  is  the  last  virtue  acquired  by  man  and 
the  first  one  he  is  lil^^ely  to  lose,  it  is  not  so  surprising  to 
find  (,utrag»\s  on  morals  among  the  undeveloped  inha!)i- 
tants  ol'  the  north  as  it  is  to  find  them  in  intelligent 
Christian  conimunities  among  peojde  whose  moral  sense 
ought  to  be  tar  above  that  of  the  average  ])rimitive  nuin 
in  view  of  their  associations  and  the  variations  that  have 
been  so  frequently  repeated  and  accumulated  by  heredity; 
and  where  there  is  uo  hierarchy  nor  established  nussion- 
aries  it  is  still  more  suprising  to  find  any  moral  sense  at  all 
among  a  people  whose  vague  religious  belief  does  not 
extend  beyond  Shamanism  or  Animism,  which  to  them 
explains  the  more  strange  and  striking  natural  phenomena 
by  the  hypothes  is  of  direct  spiritual  agency. 

It  must  not  be  understood  by  this,  however,  that  these 
people  have  no  religion,  as  numy  travellers  have  erron- 
eously believed ;  that  would  be  al.nost  equivalent  to  stat- 
ing that  races  of  men  exist  without  speech,  memory  or 
knowledge  of  lire.  A  purely  ethnological  view  of  religion 
which  regards  it  as  "the  feeling  whi<'h  falls  upon  num  in 
the  presence  of  the  unknown,"  favors  the  idea  that  the 
children  of  the  icy  north  have  many  of  the  same  feeling 
in  this  respect  as  those  experienced  by  ourselves  under 
similar  conditions,  although  there  is  doubtless  a  change  in 
us  jH'oduced  by  more  advanced  thought  and  nicer  feeling. 
On  the  other  hand,  how  many  habits  and  ideas  that  are 
senseless  and  perfectly  unexplainable  by  rhe  light  of  our 
present  modes  of  life  and  thought  can  be  explained  by 
similar  customs  and  ])r«judices  existing  among  these  dis- 
tant tribes.  Is  there  no  fragment  of  ])rimitive  superstition 
or  residue  of  bygone  ages  in  the  supi)osed  influence  of  the 
"Evil  Eye"  in  Ireland,  or  in  the  habit  of  "telling  the 


l)el 
fol 
at 
pel 

th 

lb  t 


I    ' 


Iiri)i(irl\f(  on  Hit'  N >rt?H'in   Inhahilfini.t. 


213 


bees"  in  (irerniany  '.  Is  there  not  something  of  intellectual 
roHsildoiri  in  the  i)opuhir  notion  about  Friday  and  thirteen 
at  table,  aud  in  tlie  aiu'lent  rite  of  exor(^i,sin<;-  oppressed 
pei'sons,  ]u)uses  and  otluu'  places  su])p{)se(l  to  ])e  haunted 
by  unwelconu'  si)irits,  the  form  of  whirh  is  still  retained  in 
the  Roman  ritiud  '.  And  is  not  our  enlightened  America 
"the  land  of  spiritualists,  mesuuMlsm,  soothsayin^j;  and 
mystical  congre«:;ations"'  { 

When  the  native  of  Saint  Michael's  invokes  the  moon, 
or  the  native  of  Point  Harrow  his  ci'ude  images  previously 
to  hunting  the  seal,  in  ordei-  to  biing  good  luck,  is  not  the 
mental  aud  emotional  imiuilse  the  same  as  that  which  actu- 
ates more  civilized  men  to  look  upon  "outward  signs  of  an 
inward  and  spiritual  grace,"  or  not  to  start  ujum  any 
important  undertaking  without  lirst  invoking  the  blessing 
of  Deity  i  And  are  not  the  rites  observed  by  the  natives 
on  the  Siberian  coast,  when  the  first  walrus  is  caught,  the 
counterpart  of  our  Puritan  Thanksgiving  Day  'i 

Perhaps  the  untutored  Eskimo  has  the  same  fear  of  tlie 
dangerous  and  terrible,  the  unknown,  the  infinite,  as  our- 
selves, and  parts  with  life  just  as  reluctantly  :  but  it  can- 
not be  said  that  our  observation  favors  the  fact  of  his 
longevity,  although  long  life  seems  to  prevail  among  some 
of  the  circumpolar  tribes,  the  Laps,  for  instance,  who, 
according  to  Scheifer,  'n\  spitt>  of  hard  lives  enjoy  good 
health,  are  long-lived,  and  still  alert  at  eighty  and  ninety 
years. — (Be  Medecina  Laponum.) 

Owing  to  his  hard  life,  the  conflict  with  his  circum- 
stances and  his  want  of  foresight,  the  Eskimo  soon  becomes 
a  physiological  bankrupt,  and  his  stock  of  vitality  being 
exhausted,  his  bodily  remains  are  covered  with  stones, 
around  which  are  placed  wooden  masks  and  articles  that 


<Ji0k. 


1^1 


214 


First  Landinff  on  Wrcmgel  Tslarid,  etc. 


have  been  useful  to  him  during  life,  as  I  have  seen  at 
Nounivak  island,  or  they  are  covered  with  driftwood  as 
observed  in  Kotzebue  sound,  or  as  at  Tapkan,  Siberia, 
where  the  corpse  is  lashed  to  a  long  pole  and  is  taken  some 
distance  from  the  village,  when  the  (clothes  are  stripped  off, 
placed  on  the  ground  and  covered  with  stones.  The  cadaver 
is  then  exposed  in  the  open  Jiir  to  the  tender  nier(;ies  of  crows, 
foxes  and  wolves.  The  weapons  and  other  personal  effects 
of  the  decedent  are  placed  near  by,  probably  with  some- 
thing <»f  the  same  sentiment  that  causes  us  to  use  chaplets 
of  Howers  smd  immortelles  as  funeral  offerings — a  custom 
that  Schiller  has  commemorated  in  "  Bringet  hier  die  letzen 
(la  ben." 

The  future  destiny  of  these  people  is  a  question  in  v/hich 
the  theologian  and  [)olitician  are  not  less  interested 
than  the  man  of  science.  Some  observers  seem  to  think 
that  their  nund)ers  are  diminishing  under  the  evil  iniluence 
of  so-called  civilization.  But  as  every  race  participates  in 
the  same  moral  nature,  and  the  entire  history  of  humanity, 
according  to  Herder,  is  a  series  of  events  pointing  to  a 
higher  destiny  than  has  yet  been  revealed,  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  tlie  sum  of  human  happiness,  under  proper  auspi- 
ces, should  not  be  increased  among  the  Innuit  race.  Arch- 
deacon Kirkby,  a  Church  of  England  clergyman  who  has 
lately  visited  them  in  a  missionary  capacity  as  far  as 
Boothia,  speaks  in  the  highest  terms  of  their  intelligence 
and  capacity  for  improvement.  Here,  then,  is  a  brilliant 
opportunity  for  some  one  full  of  propagandism  and  charity 
to  repeat  the  acts  of  the  modern  apostles  and  extend  the 
influence  of  civilization  to  the  gay,  lively,  curious  and 
talkative  hyperboreans  whose  home  is  under  the  mi<' night 
sun  and  on  the  borders  of  the  ley  Sea. 


i 


>\ 


ifH 


;   I     If  I  IE  i   r.  i!  . 


« 

3 


